


Baby Monitor Protocol

by thugcorpseinc



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Car Sex, Celebrity Crush, Desperation, Drunk Tony, Dubious Consent, Fanboys - Freeform, First Time, Hand Jobs, Horny Teenagers, Injury, M/M, Masturbation, Mental Health Issues, Multiple Orgasms, Mutual Masturbation, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Obsession, One-Sided Attraction, Overstimulation, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Precious Peter Parker, Slow Burn, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Underage - Freeform, Unsafe Sex, Voyeurism, tony makes bad choices
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-01-31 10:03:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thugcorpseinc/pseuds/thugcorpseinc
Summary: Yes, Tony actually reviews the footage himself. No, for some reason he didn't expect the stuff he might see, though he probably should have.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [婴儿监控协议](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16539167) by [Friday2018](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Friday2018/pseuds/Friday2018)



“Review Baby Monitor activity for today,” Tony said, sounding bored as he strode through the lab. It was more of a garage than a full working lab, but he needed private space without all the glass walls and floor-to-ceiling windows always feeling like he was in a fishbowl. He missed the comfort and seclusion of the lab he’d had in his “basement” in Malibu, but he was advised across the board not to buy a bunker in the Appalachians like he wanted to. A converted storage space at the Compound would have to do and even that had been annoyingly difficult to finagle. You know, considering he owned this facility and all. 

“Right away sir, shall I compile the highlights?” FRIDAY asked polite as ever.

“I don’t have anything else going on right now, just let it play, I’ll fast forward,” he sighed, picking up the few pieces of mail that had been delivered messily to his work station by Dum-E. Two bills, two credit card statements, a weekly ad from Aldi (he didn’t even know there was an Aldi in New York) and something from MIT.

On one wide holoscreen, the usual startup of the Spider-Man suit played. Tony had it memorized, the sound it made as it booted up and tightened to Peter’s head, then connected to the rest of the suit. The first sigh of breath as the kid acclimated to the suit. Peter had only been using the suit freely for a week now and for the most part nothing of great interest happened in the parts of New York City that Peter patrolled. The footage was so far unspectacular and disinteresting, really only useful to watch how the suit worked in action. Tony had a file of notes he added to as thoughts arrived for updates and patches to the software. 

Tony settled down in his desk chair and kicked his feet up onto the worktop while ripping open the envelope from MIT. His eyes flicked to the screen. As usual, Peter webbed his bag somewhere, a corner on the backside of a brick building this time, and then threw his first line. Tony liked this part, the monitors read Peter’s heart rate leaping and sometimes the kid would cry out with a mixture of excitement and relief. He was quiet today, that was fine too, but it did momentarily draw Tony’s attention. 

Tony almost envied Peter and the rush he still got when he flew through the air; the joy of flight never came back after Tony took that missile into space. It was probably different to be Spider-Man though. He flew with nothing but his own reflexes to stop him from plummeting to his death; that sort of rush could get anyone’s heart pumping. It probably also helped that Peter was exceptionally young and still had a nearly disgustingly positive outlook on life. Tony envied that too.

The invitation hit the trash can before Tony had even finished reading the word “convocation” because he was so _over_ it. He sighed and scrubbed his work-worn hand over his face, dragged it into his hair, and pulled his attention back to the screen. The Spider-Man’s world spun as he did a dramatic flip between swings, making Tony’s stomach lurch. He didn’t get motion sickness but for some reason watching someone else’s perspective as they did death defying spectacles of gymnastic ability tended to raise his blood pressure and get him a little queasy. Tony hit fast forward.

Dum-E hummed in the corner as the robot slowly pursued a half-dollar sized wolf spider with a broom, sweeping at it and missing, the spider getting further ahead each time Dum-E had to stop. While Tony watched the high speed chase make its way in front of his workstation, he picked up a rubber band and pulled it tight from his index around his thumb in a high school style shooter. He stared down the length of his finger with the elastic at the ready, then thought better of it and tossed it back on the desk. 

Spider-man moved at ten times the usual, swinging around, untangling some people’s laundry, stopping and sitting on the edge of a building to look around for a bit, doing some wild parkour free running on the rooftops for a good eight minutes, which Tony rewound and watched at regular speed. Really, it was just a normal day in the life of Spider-Man. Tony hit fast forward again, leaning his chin in his palm and feeling restless. With a huff of frustration, he slapped the arm of his chair and tapped “stop” far harder than was necessary. He stood and left his lab.

It was late in the night (or early in the morning depending on one’s perspective) by the time Tony slipped back into his garage. The compound was never entirely quiet though, there was a security drone humming along the edge of the fence as Tony closed the door behind himself. His sneakers left wet prints on the concrete from the dew on the lawn but he paid no mind to it or the damp hems of his jeans. 

This place was a hamster wheel. Tony ran and ran and got nowhere, he was trapped and felt like he was fleeing from this ominous presence that loomed ever larger even as he desperately tried to out distance it. Alcohol was an option and he contemplated the bottle of scotch he knew was tucked under the driver’s seat of the 1930 Model A parked in the left hand corner, but that was simply replacing the fears in his head with a monster that ravaged his body instead. Tony was getting too old for that shit. 

Instead, Tony slouched into his seat and mumbled, “Bring up the Baby Monitor, play from where I left off.” FRIDAY didn’t respond, simply did as instructed. He didn’t fast forward. Spider-Man typically patrolled for about five hours depending on whether or not his aunt called or he had a lot of homework that couldn’t be pushed off or he had some kind of project with his friend Ned to do. This was only about halfway through the shift. 

Watching was cathartic, really. Once Peter eased off the gas a little and some of the excitement wore off, the swinging around the city wasn’t so bad. It actually looked kind of fun, though Tony couldn’t imagine himself doing something so utterly dangerous and ridiculous. It took his mind off the worries that plagued him though and sometimes Tony entertained the thought of thanking the kid. That would never happen in a million years but the idea made him feel somewhat better about invading the kid’s world like this.

The feed grew boring as Peter found a new fire escape to perch on and seek out bad guys and Tony’s gaze drifted from the screen. An Iron Man helmet rested at the far end of the workstation and he rolled his chair closer to it, snagging it up and turning it over in his hands. He’d been using this one to run flight simulations and never bothered putting it back with the rest of the suit. He stared into its dark interior, then looked up at the screen.

The helmet flicked to life as it closed down over Tony’s head. His preferences loaded into the hub as Tony leaned back in his seat, feet going up on the desk. FRIDAY switched the feed from the holoscreen to the helmet and the perspective changed dramatically. Tony was _there_ , the sounds of the city in his ears with proper ambiance, the view his own. At first Tony got a bit of vertigo as the world swept below him and gripped the arm of his chair but he adjusted to it quickly. 

Tony wasn't sure why he hadn’t thought of this sooner. The motion was far easier to follow like this and honestly listening to the city living and breathing around him as the buildings and streets whizzed by had a calming effect Tony didn’t expect. 

\---

Tony took the helmet off and set it on the worktop, turning to the smaller holoscreen that displayed a list of emails that required his “urgent” attention. As urgent as an email could be rather than a phone call but he was notorious for not answering anyway. When he’d first walked in that night, he’d been wound tight to bursting from a day filled with political nonsense from Ross. If Tony could guilt free blast someone to kingdom come, it was probably that man. But sharing Peter’s daily patrols had become one of the only ways he could relax and he took full advantage of it, having done it nearly every day for the last two weeks.

Today’s patrol had been cut short by a call from Aunt May requesting he come home and help her. It was her day off and she needed him to move the furniture back because she had painted the small living room teal. Peter, of course, found his way back to where he webbed his bag and changed, the feed cutting off once the mask loosened from Peter’s head. 

Shame, Tony had hoped for one of Peter’s longer days. He felt like he really got to know Peter during the patrols, not that it was Tony’s intent to “bond” or anything. Tony learned the little things- stuff no one ever bothered to learn about him. Ticks, annoyances, frustrations, elations, coping mechanisms...even though Peter didn't talk much when he was patrolling, Tony felt his moods distinctly. If the kid had a bad day at school, he changed into his suit in far riskier locations. If he knew that he didn’t have long, he went closer to home or Ned’s, wherever he had to be at a certain time. On the weekend Tony expected Peter to spend more time on the town but he maintained a six hour max, smart boy, before going home, though sometimes he would go back out later after dark. 

The emails resumed full(ish) attention. Dum-E rolled past with his broom and the only reason Tony bothered to look is because the broom was in the air. The wolf spider, well Tony assumed it was the same one, had climbed the wall and was sitting just out of reach of Dum-E’s brandished weapon. He considered helping, maybe flicking the spider down so it was a more even field but it was keeping Dum-E busy so he left it alone.

Some hours later the larger holoscreen lit up again. Tony looked, one brow raising because he’d forgotten all about it. The time on the hud when it flicked on read 11:11 pm, Peter was rarely out this late on a weekday and Tony waited. This was live. Peter’s breathing was heavy and the heart monitor was flicking concerningly rapid, sharp peaks. The view was of the of his darkened bedroom.

“Okay. Okay,” Peter whispered, huffing and sounding like he was trying to convince himself to do something he might not want to do, “Maybe this will help. This _will_ help.” The vision dimmed, Tony recognizing when Peter needed to narrow some sensory intake. It also muffled sounds, leaving the unsteady sighs of breath loud in comparison. Fabric rustled and the world tilted dramatically, the creak of bedsprings sending a slow realization from Tony’s stomach that he thought (hoped) maybe, just maybe he might be wrong about. Peter sighed again, this time it was a sound that made Tony forget what he was doing and drop his stylus. 

_Don’t watch this._

The screen, larger than life, far too big, far too loud, opened to the cool darkness of Peter’s bedroom. Tony gripped the arm of his desk chair tightly, listening to the soft _shff-shff-shff_ of skin on skin. The suit recorded even if Peter’s eyes were closed, and Tony assumed they were, the spectacular angle showing off the less than interesting ceiling, shifting ever so slightly as he moved. Peter was being very careful, the bed had creaked painfully before and Tony wondered if May was home or if it was just habit to be quiet. 

Peter looked down and Tony wasn’t ready for it. Even with the suit’s vision dimmed and the colors washed out from night vision, Peter’s cock felt like a slap in the face. It practically glowed compared to the rest of the room, pale and pretty as young men tended to be. It was thick but not overly long, with a vein running up the right side of it that had Tony’s mouth going dry. Never had Tony imagined what Peter’s dick might look like but how could he think of anything else after this? 

The mask was the only part of the suit Peter had on and as the boy’s head moved Tony noticed he had on a black shirt with a Stark Expo logo in the center of it. It was faded with age and fitting tightly on a body that had clearly grown since its purchase. Peter’s boxers were pulled down to his thighs and his right hand was stroking himself hurriedly. Tony remembered the days of rushed, inexperienced teenager masturbation. He wanted to whisper to Peter, tell him to slow down, take it easy, take your time. 

_Stop watching._

“O-Oh,” Peter gasped. Tony swallowed and gazed almost in awe as a thick rope of semen leapt from Peter’s cock, falling back down over his hand and the soft patch of pubes at the base of his dick. Another spurt though smaller. A third. At this point Tony was impressed with the volume produced- unable to even blink as the suit’s vision opened up slowly and the telltale swoop of tissues from the box came from the left. Peter dabbed up the mess and dropped his head back again, breathing hard and letting out a small, quiet sound of relief. 

Tony swiveled his chair, his own heart racing and an erection raging in his worn jeans. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered to the empty workshop.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd work again.

The thing about being a relative recluse was that no one noticed that Tony spent any extra nights in his workshop- he always spent his nights there. They didn’t know what he did there, they didn’t want to know, and finally that lack of interest worked in Tony’s favor instead of making him feel isolated and lonely. No one knew about his nights with Peter. Peter didn’t even know about them.

It was a Friday night, admittedly Tony looked forward to weekends because Peter had started getting adventurous. Nights where he could take his time, well, fingers wandered and moans were a little louder (May went out most Friday nights with her friends to the movies and a local wine bar.) 

Of course Tony wasn’t an idiot, he’d figured out why Peter wore the mask to jerk off- senses dialed up to eleven or whatever. The mask helped filter noise and other outside stimuli and the things that made getting off difficult without it. And Peter was clearly happy with his discovery because he masturbated almost every night- he was a teenager after all. Tony didn’t mind. He didn’t watch _every_ time, sometimes he was busy or the timing wasn’t right, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t pulled up one of his favorites to enjoy now and again. 

But he’d yet to do it at the same time. For some reason he’d never pulled out his cock and stroked off with Peter and he could- more often than not he watched it live, but it had been a...thing. Maybe it made him feel better not to do it, maybe he felt like less of a creep that way, he wasn’t sure what held him back honestly.

Tonight Peter put the mask on with the light in his room still on. He had pulled the drapes already and he turned to the mirror on his door, swearing quietly, “I’m an idiot,” he muttered as he took his shirt by the hem and tugged it off over the mask. Peter looked at himself in the mirror and flexed a little, running his hands over his body, his chest, his abs, stopping and sighing. Tony wondered what Peter was thinking about- he’d seen Peter do similar things enough to think maybe Peter still wasn’t used to how his body looked. But what did Tony know?

Tony felt greedy tonight. He picked up the helmet from his desktop and put it on, Peter’s room surrounding him. Peter looked down at himself, his pants and underwear gone in the time it took for Tony to get booted up. Peter ran his hand over his groin where he must have trimmed earlier because the hair was short and tidy, his cock a halfhearted chub. He looked back at the mirror as he idly fondled himself, a thing all men did, scooping his balls up, letting them back down, lifting his growing erection and dropping it too. Then he turned, looking over his shoulder at his ass, which was so round and perky. Tony only got to see it sometimes, whenever Peter had his little “mirror” moments and it made his mouth water. 

Peter’s heart rate was a little fast- he was nervous though for what, Tony didn’t know. The young man grabbed his backpack from the back of his desk chair and moved over, sitting on his bed and finding his phone. Tony read the texts. The name at the top was MJ.

_I’m a little scared of it._

_Just go easy and use a lot of lube._

_I can’t believe you really brought it to school._

_I can’t believe you didn’t have one already._

Peter sighed and set his phone on the bedside table, plugging it in before he opened the backpack. Tony, ever ignorant, was still surprised when Peter pulled out a small box and turned it over. Tony choked into the mask. It was a dildo in ridiculous black and pink packaging the name of it being “My First Time” which was admittedly fitting considering the size was rather petite. 

“This is ridiculous,” Peter muttered. He opened the box and pulled out the plastic insert, finally freeing the smooth, pale pink dildo from its confines. Peter touched it, running his fingers along it, then gripping it and giving it a couple of testing strokes. It looked nice for a cheap dildo, the material was matte with a little give but was firm enough to get the job done. It was absolutely bigger than fingers though and Peter’s nervousness didn’t ease if his heart gave any indication. He set the packaging back in his bag and pulled out a black tube of lube next, setting them both on his bedside next to his phone. 

“No big deal,” Peter reassured himself. Tony liked the little pep talks he gave himself and frankly it was the only thing keeping Tony in line at the moment. Peter rose and turned out the light, getting back on the bed and lying on his back. Tony had gotten used to the view of the bunk above Peter’s and the soft sounds when Peter stroked himself to hardness. 

Tony reached down and undid the fly on his pants, popping the button and then stopping. Peter opened the lube bottle and went back to it, his soft sighs gaining momentum when his left hand went lower. Tony had to guess a lot of what Peter was doing but sometimes Peter propped his head up and watched. Not yet tonight but the erotic sounds Peter made were usually enough to get Tony’s dick aching. 

“Okay,” the teen whispered, “Take it easy.” He hesitated, seemingly unsure of what position to take before he pressed one foot to the bunk above his and moved a pillow under himself, easily holding himself up, his other leg lying on the bed, spreading himself like Christmas dinner. 

“Holy shit,” Tony muttered to himself. Peter’s cock was hard and dark at the head, dripping onto himself from the lifted position. Peter was actually looking and Tony watched as he dipped two shining fingers back into himself. Tony couldn’t take it. He stood and pushed his underwear and jeans down, letting them drop to the floor as he sat back down, hiking his shirt up and gripping himself. Peter had never looked while fingering himself. Peter had never done such a position before. If it was anyone except Spider-Man, Tony wouldn’t believe such a pose was comfortable. 

The dildo came into view, wet with lube as Peter guided it to his hole, watching himself carefully though Tony wondered if Peter had shut his eyes. At first Peter just teased it, eased it in a little then back out, finally he pressed and pressed and- Tony had to grip his cock tighter at the little cry Peter made when the dildo popped inside. Peter immediately took it back out and added more lube, breathing hard, heart hammering. 

Tony was fairly certain he’d never taken someone’s virginity before and he absolutely had never been there for the first time someone fucked themself. This was an incredible moment that was not lost on Tony. It was nervous and shaky, Peter’s fingers trembled and his cock dripped, forgotten, as Peter went a little deeper. Tony’s hand slid up and down his erection in an agonizing pace but he was trying to match Peter’s shallow thrusts- it was difficult. He wanted Peter to just _do it, just go for it, you’ll like it, I promise._

The sounds of Peter’s breathing and the faint _schlick_ of his shallow thrusts with the dildo would haunt Tony, he knew that already. 

“Oh, oh,” Peter breathed out, and finally he started going deeper. His right hand went back to his cock and stroked, short and jerky and suddenly he was climaxing. Tony groaned, Peter actually keeping the view in place to watch the spurts of cum that dripped down onto Peter’s hard stomach, the dildo buried in him still. Tony sped up, blowing his load right as Peter let out a whine and pulled the dildo out. 

Tony just stayed still in the aftermath, watching with half his attention as Peter laid down flat and used some tissues on his hand, just cleaning enough that he could reach up and take off the mask.

The darkness inside the helmet was sudden and Tony was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like it, leave a kudos and maybe a comment! I love this pairing so goddamn much and I will ride this underage ship into hell.


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to anyone wanting more smut this is a plot chapter. Yes, this fic has one!

Tony knew he shouldn’t have watched it.

As he sat in his private jet, nothing but ocean for hundreds of miles, his fingers wrapped around the bottle of scotch he’d swiped before takeoff. He’d seen Peter do obscene things to himself but watching that boy nearly die was something he didn’t want to have to do again. But he’d done it twice now and as he wallowed in his bottle of booze he contemplated picking up his headset and watching once more.

In the moment Tony had been angry. In the too cool dimness in his jet he felt grief. What if FRIDAY hadn’t called him? What if she’d let Peter drown? _What if that boy had died._

Tony had never felt guilt before Afghanistan and it was as if all those lives taken by his weapons and all the “collateral damage” washed over him like a tidal wave, threatening to drown him. And no matter how hard they tried, not even the Avengers could save everyone. He couldn’t stop thinking about them, watching the slideshows of loved ones lost, reading names on memorials, listening to people blaming the only people left to blame. He couldn’t get his head above the water and he thought that maybe, just maybe, Peter could be the one thing he did correctly.

Instead Peter had thrown himself into harm’s way and if FRIDAY hadn’t called Tony, he would have sunk to the bottom of the Hudson. Tony took a long, burning drink. This scotch was 30 years old, there were people who never even saw alcohol of this quality and he was throwing it down like cheap vodka. Moments like this made him miss JARVIS. JARVIS had been so much more than an AI, he had been a thinking, functioning person, maybe the only person who _cared_ about Tony. FRIDAY got the job done but just as likely as she was to report that Peter’s life was on the line, she was just as likely not to. She was very precise to the point of being dangerous in the case of an oversight. He told her to keep watch on Peter and report anything of note. What if she’d considered his fall not noteworthy?

Tony’s stomach lurched. He pressed play- when did he put his headset on?

Peter jerked upwards, his heart already pounding, the sounds of panic filling Tony’s skull, rattling around as white noise. The monster, there was no better way to describe it than that, dragged Peter into the air. All of Peter’s monitors went wild, his heart racing, his adrenaline spiked, his body screaming to stop this. Tony wondered what Peter thought about in that moment when the world was crazy and there was nothing but air rushing past him.

Then the suit reacted to the altitude and speed, automatically deploying the parachute. It was a safety feature but all it did was rip him from the claws of one danger and send him plummeting to another. Watching made it happen so quickly but to Peter it probably felt like he was falling forever. Luckily there was no injury upon impact, likely because of the parachute cushioning the water. But it jolted Tony when Peter hit, the woosh of the water, the drop in the temperature that made the suit flash dramatically, the wild pounding of Peter’s heart. The sounds of him choking on water.

The feed cut off when they landed on shore and Tony had yanked the mask off. It switched to the Iron Man’s helmet, watching Peter cough up water and shiver as he scrambled to his feet, already talking, already rambling about the weapons, the man they needed to stop. Tony wanted to shake him, tell him that he could have _died_. Didn’t he care?

Tony wrenched the headset off, pressing his face into his hand and covering the sob that slipped out. He’d been so good for so long about the drinking but this kid. Jesus, Tony really was helpless. He could barely even keep one fifteen year old alive, what kind of hero was he?

-

“Mr. Stark, wow, this is awesome,” Peter said, his voice so bright and young echoed in the empty compound. There were only ghosts here and Peter glowed, alive and so very there. “Do you live here? There are probably like fifty bedrooms. Is this a military base?”

“This is the Avengers base, kid, didn’t you see the sign?” Happy said, snappy as ever. He was annoyed that he’d had to drive two hours to drop Peter off and now had to drive two hours back.

“Well yea, but I thought like, it looks really…I guess it is pretty empty,” Peter said, voice trailing off. He put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and looked back towards the big doors he’d entered.

“You can go,” Tony said to Happy, who had been glowering at Peter.

“What, I just brought him here,” Happy said, confused.

“No, right, exactly, you can go,” Tony repeated. “You. Minus Peter. Just you.”

“You’re sure? Who’s bringing him home?” Happy demanded, sounding offended.

“Me, I’ll fly him. Bye Happy. Yep, I’ll fly him back, yes, go back to the Tower. Okay,” Tony interrupted Happy as he tried to protest. Tony waved at him through the glass doors and turned back to Peter. 

“Mr. Stark is this about D.C.?” Peter asked, sounding anxious. Just being near Peter was making Tony nervous. He knew this kid practically inside and out and he was still _Mr. Stark_ to him. It sounded distractingly sexy. 

D.C. had been a fiasco. Tony had only just managed to pull Peter out of that truck before it went to lock up and get the alien device from Ned, who had cracked and handed it over the moment a man in a suit started asking him questions. Luckily the Decathlon team still won without Peter, who was grounded to the hotel to rest after his concussion. Tony had wanted to send Peter home for putting himself right back into life threatening danger but that wasn’t his call. 

Instead he’d tracked the weapons, he’d found the base, he’d destroyed everything. Maybe it had been overkill but every time he shut his eyes he saw Peter falling to his death. He saw Peter drowning. He heard the wild beeping of Peter’s heart monitor and the choking as water filled the boy’s mouth. When Tony found those weapons he saw flames. What he didn’t see was the leader. The building had been quiet but he left it on surveillance to see who would return there.

A small scale weapons dealer wasn’t top priority to the Avengers. This was something the FBI handled or the police. But Peter had made it Tony’s problem by putting himself at risk like this. Tony needed Peter- he’d grown to know him, to care about him, to worry about him. He went on every patrol, even if only letting it play in the background. He listened to every voicemail, read the texts, checked his progress at school. Tony knew so much about Peter. He knew Peter had gotten an 87% on his last Spanish test and Ned had landed a 92%. He knew Aunt May’s depression medication wasn’t working and she was seeing her therapist again on Thursday to try a new prescription. He knew Peter didn’t like Subway sandwiches and his favorite pizza place was four blocks from his apartment. 

Tony was…Tony was obsessed. He felt it like a slap to the face. It was downright creepy- he’d been spying on Peter for months without his knowledge or consent. As he stood there and looked at Peter, who was only an inch or so shorter than him, who had those big brown eyes and chewed anxiously at his lip, Tony felt sick. Who had he become that this was all he had? What was this about? Why _had_ he dragged Peter here?

“This is…yea. It’s about D.C.,” Tony said. He felt as if the energy had been sapped from him and he reached out and took Peter by the shoulder, pulling him to his side. They walked, Peter fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie as they went, feeling stiff and uncomfortable under his arm. “You’ve taken like five years off my life, you know that right? You scared the hell out of me. I haven’t been able to leave the country since that stunt in the Hudson.”

“Mr. Stark, I didn’t mean to…to scare you,” Peter said, sounding equally confused and apologetic. Like he couldn’t believe that Tony was saying this to him. “I was just…doing what’s right. That’s all.” He was looking down as they walked but couldn’t help but look out the windows they were walking along, eyes following one of the security drones.

“Well I handled it,” Tony said. Peter looked up at him sharply but doing so made him stumble a little for the moment he wasn’t watching where he was going.

“You handled it? H-how?” Peter asked, slipping from under Tony’s arm as he righted himself.

“I handled it, don’t go looking for trouble, just please, please trust me,” Tony said. He needed to put space between them. He’d been stroking off to this _child_ for weeks and it was like his skin was on fire just being near him. It was so different to be here, to be in person. He never saw Peter’s face during it, just the body of a Greek god with a soft, nervous voice giving himself pep talks. Peter looked so young. The guilt crushed around Tony.

“Okay. I trust you,” Peter said, sounding pure and honest. Tony wanted to kiss him. Instead he said,

“Where’s the suit?”

-

“Oh come on, Mr. Stark, please? I don’t need you tracking me, I swear I’m fine,” Peter whined sounding all of the fifteen year old he was. “And I really like the suit lady, she’s really nice and helps a lot.” Peter trailed after Tony like an anxious mother hen, looking ready to snatch the suit from Tony’s hands but holding himself back, bouncing along at Tony’s side.

“The tracker is for your safety, Peter, this is dangerous and the situations you get yourself into are dangerous. You either keep the suit and I put a tracker in it or you lose the suit completely,” Tony said, flipping the suit so he could see the inside as he sat at his workstation. They were in the main part of the compound still rather than Tony’s personal garage, he didn’t think he could bear to see Peter there in that place they’d spent so many nights together.

Peter sat down on the other stool and looked upset, folding his arms over his chest but remaining silent. Tony worked on the suit, the time passing by eventually having Peter relax a little and lean closer, watching Tony work. He was riveted to the way Tony’s fingers moved and whenever he switched to tinkering with the coding he gazed over Tony’s shoulder enraptured. It was difficult to work honestly, Peter didn’t wear cologne but he smelled like a particular deodorant and shampoo. The closeness making Tony’s skin crawl.

“What are you doing to it?” Peter finally asked. He seemed to realize how he had migrated to Tony’s elbow and backed off a little, clearing his throat.

“I’m changing your restrictions,” Tony said, “You can keep your AI but there are a lot of upgrades in this that you’re not ready for. The initial protocols were installed for a reason, Parker, and you are not ready to have your training wheels off.” Peter’s mouth opened with the intent to protest but he shut it again when Tony put his tools down and turned to him. He shifted, rotating his chair so that they were face to face, his knees bracketing Peter’s, his hand feeling incredibly warm where he’d placed it on Peter’s leg to arrange him.

“Peter,” Tony started, his voice serious but quiet and personal. “You’re not ready to use the full potential of your suit and you know who I have to blame for that? Me. I haven’t made the time to get you properly trained.” He’d been too busy wallowing in self-pity and hiding behind the lie that he had things to do for Stark Industries instead of put the effort into teaching Peter how to be a hero. It was the depression but Tony had lived his entire life with a storm cloud over his head, he could do this now. The problem was his newest coping mechanism used the body of a fifteen year old boy instead of drugs or alcohol like he should have fallen back on. He felt soiled for what he did at night to make himself feel even a sliver of something. And here he was, Tony Stark, able to look Peter Parker in the eye after what he’d been doing. Because Tony knew no shame.

“I work every day, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, his voice also lowered, imploring. “I’ve worked so hard.”

“I know,” Tony cut him off, not sure he could hear that tone for long. “We’ll change it, okay? I’ll have a training regimen put together. I’ll stick to it with you.”

“I mean. Are you sure, Mr. Stark? I don’t want to bother you-”

“Stop, kid, you’re not bothering me. I need this as much as you do. Look at this place,” Tony said, sitting up properly and waving around vaguely. It was quiet and empty, so much of the lab unused which had once been covered with Bruce and Tony’s chaos. “I need to start doing something again. Might as well be you.” Peter sat a little straighter and cleared his throat, his face flushed. “Yikes, not my best choice of words.” Tony turned and when he did, he made Peter turn too, leaning back over the suit to tweak a few more things. “Okay, your restrictions are back in place, but I can introduce you to the AI and the tutorial system.”

Tony stood and handed the mask to Peter, separate from the rest of the suit, tapping at the computer station to prepare to run the feed live. Peter hesitated, looking at Tony again, then put the mask on. The holoscreen lit up, causing a slightly jarring sense of infinity as he looked at the feed of himself looking at the feed of himself. He turned away from it and said, “Suit lady?”

“Good afternoon, Peter, Mr. Stark,” she greeted politely.

“Hi,” Peter said, sounding nervous again. “I uh…Mr. Stark, can I…name her?”

“Absolutely, I encourage it,” Tony said from his seat. It was abundantly different with Peter wearing the mask. Like a Pavlovian response to get his cock hard, his heart pounded in his throat, especially as he watched the way Peter’s hands fidgeted.

“How’s Karen?” Peter offered up, looking at Tony for confirmation. Tony was ignoring the feed of Peter’s vitals, the way the young man’s heart was racing trying not to see himself on the screen.

“Sounds great. Karen, please walk Peter through the introduction to the tutorial system,” Tony requested.

Karen started talking and Peter stood up, pacing a little as he listened, little videos showing in the corner as she went over the first sections. Tony watched the feed, noting how Peter grew calmer as he focused on the AI. It was only a few minutes before Karen was done and the next steps were practical application. Peter moved back over to the chair by Tony where he’d the rest of the suit. Tony passed it to him. Peter took off the mask, his expression that one before a child asks for something they know they can’t have.

“Yes, we can go start practical training now,” Tony said before the kid could ask. He brightened up and gripping the suit tighter. Tony lead the way through the building to the gym , only giving a few highlights of the compound as they went because frankly the place was a joke. The Avengers were practically dissolved with only Tony and Vision haunting the empty rooms and that was just too sad to talk about.

Peter was the only life the compound had seen in months and as Tony watched Peter retreating to the showers to change, he knew with Steve, they would have done better. Steve was a far better teacher, they had made a better team. Not even his pathetic little “sorry I’m not sorry” letter made up for what had happened, for the wrongs between them, for the people they couldn't save. Tony wasn’t sure that getting over it was possible but when Spider-Man strode back out of the other room, walking taller, moving with confidence, Tony knew he had to try his damnedest to _not fuck this up_.


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still no smut. There’s some violence and fairly graphic description of injury though.

Peter’s heart pounded as he went through the course again, talking to himself out loud as he flipped backwards, hands firing web after web, narrating his moves. With a final flourish, he swept beneath the swinging dummy and did a baseball slide across the mat covered floor to the finish line. He stood up, looking over at Tony for approval. Tony tipped down the tablet in his lap he had been observing from. He frowned hard and shook his head.

“You’re getting sloppy, that was five seconds slower,” he said, to which Peter groaned and fell back onto the mat dramatically.

“Come on, Mr. Stark, we’ve been running drills for two hours, can we please just go get in the hot tub?” Which sounded amazing but Tony scoffed, raising his hand and beckoning the Iron Man suit that was resting on the far side of the gym. It flared to life and flew to him, opening to welcome him inside.

“You don’t get to be sloppy because you’re bored. In a real fight you don’t get breaks. The Battle for New York lasted three hours, we didn’t have time to catch our breath, let alone take a dip in the hot tub. When we thought that the end was in sight, more of those fuckers poured out,” Tony said, his voice tinny from inside the suit, but deadly serious. He raised his hand and aimed at Peter. The boy’s inhuman reaction time was the only thing that kept him from catching the blast to the chest, instead it grazed his hip.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter yelped, his voice high in surprise. Tony kept a feed of Peter’s vitals in the corner of his HUD, not cheating, just watching. Tony jetted up, firing again. Peter rolled, avoiding it easier this time but his heart raced wildly as he barely ducked the quick succession of shots. Peter had never really been in a true conflict- only handled small time thugs and that one _event_ in the bank, he really hadn’t had a weapon fired at him with intent and skill behind it. 

Peter made a quiet sound of distress as he leapt up, twisted midair, and webbed himself over Tony’s head. Tony flew up, turning and seeing Peter hesitating- Peter was faster than him, that would have been his moment, he could have gotten Tony from the back. He felt hot anger boil in him and Tony fired once, twice, pursued Peter, twice more, but it was the chest RT that caught Peter, landing a hit directly in the center of Peter’s back, scorching the round spider design there and making the teenager cry out as he let go of his web and fell to the mat, tumbling over.

“Why are you hesitating?” Tony demanded hotly, the faceplate sliding open so he could look at Peter properly. He landed with a clang and strode over. The boy was on the ground, scrambling backwards as Tony approached him, his breathing coming out in panicked gasps as he stuttered to try to respond. His heart was a series of ragged peaks in the corner of Tony’s hud. “Hesitation gets people killed, Parker,” Tony snapped.

“Well, I, Mr. Stark, I was, I didn’t know-” Peter stammered, one arm reaching around his shoulder to touch where his back was still smoking. The little display of Peter’s body beside the heart monitor flashed warnings of injury.

“Didn’t know? Didn’t know _what_? You’d be dead you know,” Tony said, his expression thunderous. “They won’t turn down the power out there.” He motioned vaguely towards the large glass windows that showed the wide, empty yard, Tony’s garage visible at the western edge. Peter looked as if he would see an army of robots on the lawn, but his gaze snapped back to Tony as if he expected another attack. 

“I know, Mr. Stark, but I was just…I wasn’t ready, I was- I’m sorry,” Peter was saying, and it shocked Tony to the core to hear the edge of tears in Peter’s voice. He was holding back from _crying_ and it made Tony stop, blink, open his mouth to speak, then close it. Peter didn’t move, just stayed on the floor, holding back a sniffle as Iron Man loomed over him. Tony stepped away, almost stumbling as he did, then turned and the suit opened to let him out of it.

“Go get cleaned up,” the older man said without looking back. He didn’t need to, he could hear Peter scrambling to get up, then the rapid _pat, pat, pat_ of his retreating steps.

-

Tony had never felt so…wrong before. He looked down at the tablet and felt sick to his stomach at the replay. How could he have lost his temper like that? All this agonizing about how precious Peter’s life was and here he was blasting him in the back. It wasn’t a serious injury and Peter had increased healing capability but that didn’t make it any less painful. Steve had only once mentioned that even with the serum the broken bones always hurt and the cuts always bled. He couldn’t pretend this wasn’t serious just because Peter would “get well soon.”

Peter was in the bedroom that Tony had shown him to earlier. The door was shut but not locked. Tony knocked gently.

“Peter…can I come in?” he asked, his voice low. There was some shuffling and after a moment, the door opened slowly. Peter looked uncomfortable but he was trying to hide it behind a smile.

“Yea, I mean, it’s your compound right?” Peter asked with false bravado.

He was wearing an oversized t shirt, it was dark but Tony noticed when he walked in that it was sticking to his upper back. Hands in his pockets, Tony went over to the bed and sat down. Peter closed the door. Tony’s heart beat a little faster. The bedroom was not small by any means but having the door shut trapped Tony in this space, breathing the same air as Peter, being so close to the teenager that he could smell him. Tony wanted to scratch his skin off to stop it from crawling.

“I’m sorry,” Tony started with and if Peter had any idea what it meant for him to say those words. Pepper would faint if she knew he had apologized without provocation. “I was hard on you. I took it too far.”

“No, Mr. Stark, you were right, I need to be more prepared…I need to be ready,” Peter said immediately, “I want to be better, Mr. Stark. I want to be ready for anything. I know better now.” How was Tony being forgiven so easily? He didn’t deserve this kid to be here, to be in his life. He’d physically hurt him and it was okay? Peter sat down at the desk, sideways in the chair as to avoid touching it with his back, and looked at Tony expectantly, with this odd sense of excitement.

Tony wasn’t just there to apologize but the next part was oddly difficult to say, especially with those eyes on him. His mouth was dry and he swallowed, almost choking from it. Instead he cleared his throat and pulled a tube from his jeans. Peter craned his neck to try to see what it was but looked back at Tony because it had no distinguishing marks.

“It’s a healing salve, it’ll clear that up tonight with your enhanced immune system,” Tony explained. Peter’s expression was immediately invested. He was curious, he asked how it worked, what made it special, how did Tony know it would work that fast, etc. He was especially excited when Tony explained that it had been designed by Dr. Banner, because for some reason that was _so cool_. Then Tony nearly dropped the tube. Because it meant nothing to Peter to take his shirt off in front of Tony, why would it? Tony’s hands shook as Peter sat down, back to him, halfway undressed because the shirt was really stuck on there and he needed help.

Peter hissed in pain as Tony carefully peeled it off, refusing to look at the clotted blood and skin that came off onto the material. The wound was ugly- but superficial. Repulsor blasts were usually highly concentrated but the design of the Spider-Man suit had spread the damage out twice the size. That was probably the only thing that kept it from being worse, even with the power turned down it had a lot of kick and Peter didn’t have much to protect him. 

It was second degree burns mostly, the skin bubbling up with blisters except for a small patch in the center about the size of a golf ball that was oozing as it was exposed to the cool air. Goosebumps rose over Peter’s flesh, visible to Tony as he reached up and hovered his hand over it over the wound. Peter shivered visibly, shying from Tony’s palm.

“I can feel that even though you aren’t touching me,” Peter said, “Your hand is really hot.”

“Well I’m going to have to touch you to put this gunk on so sit still,” Tony said back, now who was hiding behind a fake smile? There was so much trust here, this boy was so willing to open himself to the very person who had caused this injury. Tony felt sick. He’d done this and Peter thought nothing of it. Tony had failed the exercise even though Peter had been the one who’d been tested.

“Oh, ow, ow,” Peter hissed, his back arching when Tony’s fingers gently swiped the clear salve onto his burned skin. Tony put more on his index and middle and set the tube down, his left hand grasping Peter by the shoulder to hold him still. He spread the gel carefully as he could but he had calluses and scars on his hands and fingers that probably felt like sandpaper to Peter. 

Peter remained as quiet as he could but still flinched at the discomfort. Tony felt like the kid was burning _him_ as he did this. The room was small, shrinking even, pressing in on Tony until he could only see the hard, sweeping lines of Peter’s back. He’d only seen this part of Peter briefly, in mirrors, flashes of images and nothing compared to being so close. To touching it.

Tony finished rather quickly, his eyes soaking up all of the soft, smooth skin. Peter’s shoulders were broad and his waist trim, a nearly perfect ratio that whispered of maturity and masculinity. Freckles were scattered across his deltoids and along his shoulder blades- they were cute and Tony wanted to brush his lips along them and trace the pictures they could make.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter said. His voice was quiet, unsure. Tony’s hands jerked back and he took a deep breath as if he had been underwater, the room rushing back out away from him. Peter turned on the bed, the motion making their legs touch as he moved to take the shirt from beside Tony.

“Oh, don’t put that back on,” Tony said, coming to his senses. “It’s dirty. And that has to soak in completely.” He almost shivered because they were so close together. Too close. Tony’s greedy eyes dragged along Peter’s features, his brows, his jaw, his warm eyes, his inviting mouth but then Peter looked away shyly, his arms going over his chest, self-consciousness creeping into his demeanor. How could Peter ever understand how beautiful he looked like this? He had the body of a man, though he didn’t seem to grow a single hair on his chest and his happy trail was kept short. It was nothing like watching the video feed but he recognized Peter’s nude torso like he would any lover.

“I, uh, it should take about twenty minutes to soak in. Are you,” Tony cleared his throat, was this becoming a nervous tic? “Hungry? I’ll order pizza. Everyone likes pizza.” He stood up abruptly and headed for the door, his hands were shaking, he left the tube of salve on the bed. Peter looked up at him as if he was speaking Chinese. “Cap always gets hungry when he’s recovering. I’m sure you’re not much different. Two pizzas.”

“Pizza,” Peter whispered but he gained volume as he tried to act natural, “Yea, totally. Sounds good.” Tony opened the door, pausing, _don’t look back_. He looked back, his eyes drawn back to Peter’s naked chest, then strode out.

-

The thing about Peter was that he could really do some talking. Tony sat in the living room with a glass scotch in his hand (his second, but no one cared to count anymore) with Peter working his way through an entire large pepperoni pizza by himself. And talking. It seemed that the incident from the gym was already forgotten, the wound on his back already healing, and the quiet moment in the bedroom swept under the rug. In favor of a very active if not one-sided discussion of the possible applications of his web fluid in the medical field, with modifications of course. It was relaxing. It took the edge off, or maybe that was the alcohol. Maybe it was that Peter was fully clothed.

“Oh wow,” Peter said abruptly, stopping his train of thought. He got to his feet and wiped his hands on his pants. Tony looked over the back of the couch and saw it was only Vision walking in. He looked so awkward in clothes but it would be more awkward if he was wearing his “suit up, time to fight crime” outfit.

“You did not tell me we had a visitor, Tony,” Vision said politely. Tony looked into his drink, ignoring the emotions wrapped up in those soft, accented words. Tony had known JARVIS so well that every little inflection screamed “wrong” at him. Vision was desperately lonely. Tony could hardly look at him, not without thinking of JARVIS, mourning the loss of his closest friend. He could barely talk to Vision casually let alone be around him for periods of time. He was a stranger wearing the voice of a dead man. It was too hard for Tony and his weakness made Vision suffer. His weakness made everyone suffer.

“Sorry, got caught up, Vis, this is Peter Parker, Spider-Man,” Tony introduced. Peter stuck his hand out eagerly.

“I didn’t get to meet you properly before, like, in Germany,” Peter said, clearly very excited. “Hi.”

“It is a pleasure, Peter,” Vision said and he meant it. “I heard you speaking about a skin replacement?”

“No, it’s more like a triage bandage,” Peter said, sitting down with Vision next to him, eager to talk to someone a little more engaging. Tony smiled but it did little to hide his discomfort. He rose, making up an excuse about having work to do, then slipped out.

-

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony jerked upright from where he’d fallen asleep at his workstation. Peter’s voice echoed in the large garage. Tony’s entire body tensed. Peter couldn’t be here, not _here_. Why did FRIDAY let him in? JARVIS wouldn’t have.

“Hey, kid,” Tony said, wiping his mouth and turning away to stretch out his sore back. “What are you doing in here?”

“I, uh, was,” Peter stuttered. Tony finally looked at him. Peter was in his pajamas. His feet were bare and leaving wet footprints on the concrete making alarm rise in Tony. Why was Peter here in the middle of the night like he’d just rolled out of bed? “Y’know, just curious what you were up to.” It was the worst lie Tony had ever heard.

Tony stood up and moved away from his desk. He didn’t want Peter touching anything, he didn’t know what he’d left up on the screen before it went to sleep mode. JARVIS would hide it, FRIDAY would not. As Peter got closer to him, Tony got a better look. He seemed pale. His mouth was drawn, his arms wrapped around himself, breathing heavy but he was trying to hide it.

“You sure you’re okay?” Tony asked, his voice gentle. He was being too familiar, Peter barely knew him.

“Yea…no. I’m fine. I just…I’ve never slept somewhere so quiet before,” Peter finally admitted. “I couldn’t do it. Then I went out to try to find you and this place is huge and I…got lost.”

“Could have just asked FRIDAY,” Tony said. They were within arm’s length of each other.

“I asked Karen,” Peter admitted, his voice so soft. “She asked FRIDAY.” Tony reached out and Peter looked at him, curious but also so trusting. He pulled him in and hugged the teenager. Peter immediately leaned into the touch, letting out a sigh and Tony could feel the tension loosen. The way Peter’s head felt on his shoulder, warm and heavy. Tony’s heart raced. Weeks, hell, months of desire had built up to this point and Peter had come to him. Peter wanted him, there was no other reason for him to come to Tony’s private workshop in the dead of night.

Tony’s hands slid down, moving to Peter’s shoulders, pulling him back so they were looking at each other. They normally stood nearly eye to eye but with Peter barefoot, Tony’s gaze was slightly down. Peter’s were big, brown, beautiful, with dark lashes and a question in them. Tony’s palms were gentle on Peter’s cheeks, his fingers cradling his head and he kissed him.

Never had Tony been so floored by a kiss. Peter was so warm and soft against his lips, the subtle, pheromone smell filled Tony’s head and he felt drunk from it. Tony shifted closer, his eyes closed as their mouths parted and they both breathed in. Peter shook. Tony kissed him again, tilting Peter’s head and pressing more of his body against him when- 

Peter shoved Tony, hard, far harder than was needed and the older man fell backwards against the table covered in half assembled drones. Parts crashed to the floor where Tony knocked them down catching himself. Peter stared at Tony as if he was seeing a stranger, his mouth open slightly, lower lip trembling. _Don’t cry_. Instead Peter ran.

“Peter, Peter stop,” Tony called, going after him. The door slammed shut in front of Tony and he swore as he turned his shoulder towards it to avoid his face hitting it. He rested his head against it, eyes squeezed shut as his career, his entire life, played out in front of him. He’d flushed it for one kiss and he couldn’t find it in himself to mourn them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know how this went from a purely pwp idfic to this but I’m rolling with it.


	5. Part 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd, as per usual.

“Is he sleeping?”

“No, sir.”

Tony was silent. He sat at his workstation and with a few taps he had pulled up the video feed of Peter’s room. The boy was halfway through getting dressed, tugging a shirt over his head and turning to stuff the pajamas into his backpack. He took the soiled t shirt from earlier, looked at it, at the dried blood on it, then put it in his bag too. Then he sat down to wait, for what, Tony wasn’t sure and probably neither was Peter.

Tony took a shuddering breath, “What am I going to do?” It wasn’t a real question. It wasn’t supposed to have an answer.

FRIDAY spoke anyway, “I suggest calling his aunt to come get him.”

“That’s a terrible idea. Who the fuck was asking you?” he snapped, slapping his hand down on the table. A pen rolled onto the floor. FRIDAY did not respond again. Tony closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. It was like someone changed the channel in his brain until it was just playing a screen of black and white fuzz, his ears buzzing with white noise. He couldn’t think. The sun was creeping up the horizon by the time he got a hold of himself and found his phone.

“I’m sorry Hap, I need you to come get the kid and bring him home,” Tony said before Happy had a chance to rasp “hello” at him.

“But you said-” Happy was waking up and he was annoyed. Be annoyed. Be inconvenienced. It was Tony’s hobby to make people suffer for his own mistakes.

“I know what I said. Something came up. I have to go,” Tony responded, his voice surprisingly calm.

That was probably why Happy didn’t argue further, instead he asked, “Avengers business?”

“Yea. Avengers business.” A lie so simple but tasted so bitter in his mouth.

-

The phone rang but Tony was too drunk to get out of the car, let alone answer. He listened to it ringing until it went to his voicemail, Happy’s voice playing aloud, echoing slightly in the hollow garage. FRIDAY hated Tony, he was certain of it. Why would she play it out loud for him? This wasn’t the 90s, voicemail didn’t play out loud while people were leaving them.

“Hey boss, just dropped off the kid. Everything okay? Pretty sure he was crying,” Happy said, sounding exceptionally uncomfortable. “Okay.” He hung up.

-

“Karen?”

“Yes, Peter?”

Tony sat upright, he’d fallen asleep at his desk again. He’d gotten drunk, he’d thrown up until he couldn’t stand, he’d sipped water, nibbled crackers, slept it off on the couch. He had no idea what time it was. The feed was live and the room Peter was in was dark and quiet.

“Am I…Is Mr. Stark…Did he…” Peter sounded insecure, he sounded young. Tony’s mind envisioned Peter as a collection of parts that were all disconnected from each other. There was his body, beautiful, desirable, a plane of muscle and heat that Tony wanted more than he could remember wanting someone. His voice, youthful and uncertain, it didn’t match his body, it didn’t sound like the man he resembled. Then his brilliant mind, so much potential to be tapped into, so much growth to be guided. But these things didn’t seem to go together into one person. Tony knew Peter Parker through voicemails and Spider-Man and late nights spent matching the boy’s breathing as he brought himself off. Tony didn’t know Peter Parker the 15 year old who was the beginning of the next generation of hero. And Tony had fucked up, he had driven this kid away from him and who knew where he would go.

“Maybe start from the beginning?” Karen said. She was kind and curious, one of Tony’s “prettier” AI systems, gentler than FRIDAY or JARVIS. Tony felt like she was something he had done right for once. She would take good care of Peter.

“Mr. Stark kissed me. Really kissed me. Like he meant it,” Peter whispered. Tony could barely hear it. His heart pounded. He held onto the table. He wanted to be sick. Why didn’t he think Peter would talk about this? But he didn’t expect Peter to talk to the AI about it. Tony didn’t want to be a part of this. He couldn’t handle the rejection twice, his body was physically rebelling against hearing it.

“Karen?” Peter prompted when the suit didn’t reply. This wasn’t in her programming- she learned how to respond over time, she hadn’t learned subjects like this yet.

“I’m here,” she said and she sounded just as pleasant as before.

“What am I supposed to do?” Peter sounded…lost. Tony’s stomach lurched.

“I have several phone numbers for sexual abuse hotlines as well as the local police,” Karen suggested. Tony couldn’t find it in him to feel betrayed. She was there to help Peter and he wouldn’t blame Peter for it if he sought help.

“What? No! No, God, no, Karen why would you even- I can’t call the cops! It was just a kiss. It wasn’t…sexual abuse,” Peter sounded appalled, not afraid. As if the mere suggestion was the most offensive thing someone had ever said to him. Like he’d never heard the words “sexual abuse” directed towards him in his life.

“Well…tell me about it then,” the AI said. Tony was hanging on the words, he was holding his breath and didn’t even realize he was doing it.

“I couldn’t sleep there, it was too quiet,” Peter said, as if he’d been thinking about this, as if he’d played the story out in his head before actually speaking it out loud. “Then…it was…I got freaked out. I was trying to find the way to the lab but that place is huge, I couldn’t find anything or anyone, there’s no one there, not even a janitor. That’s when I asked you to help.”

“I remember,” Karen said back. She was engaging him because he preferred conversations that had those small sounds of affirmation. 

“The grounds were really dark, there’s no lights out there, just the security drones and they were…kinda scary. So I waited until it passed and I ran and…I freaked myself out, that’s all it was,” Peter said, “This is stupid, I’m almost 16, I shouldn’t be scared of the dark.”

“It’s okay to be afraid sometimes, Peter,” Karen said gently.

Peter let out a sigh. “Mr. Stark had been sleeping at his desk. I saw him get up when I went in,” he explained, “He looked like shit. Like he doesn’t sleep at all.” Tony wasn't offended- he knew how he looked when he was in his vulnerable place. Outside of that garage he put on a face, put makeup on the bags, covered his eyes with sunglasses, smiled away the questions about his well being until no one asked anymore. It made him shakey to think Peter was the only person who seemed to notice. 

“Anyway,” Peter said. “I guess…he could tell I was shook up. He hugged me and it was really nice, like, he just knew I needed it. God, I’m so stupid for even…why was I even scared in the first place?” He was talking to himself more than Karen, it was clear. “I didn’t know he was going to…I’ve never kissed anyone like _that_ before. I could taste him.”

Tony’s stomach lurched. He’d been Peter’s first real kiss- stolen without permission in the middle of the night in his garage. He could imagine the awkward, chaste pecks the teenager had probably shared with equally young people before this. A girl maybe? 

“Were you afraid then too?” Karen asked, passive and gentle as ever. 

“Terrified,” Peter admitted, barely a breath. “But in a butterflies kind of way. God, I, he’s…sorry, I’ve never talked about this to anyone before.”

“Take your time,” Karen replied. Tony took deep, slow breaths. He shouldn’t be listening to something so private, it was as bad as reading someone’s diary but how could he stop now? He had to know, he had to find out if Peter was going to be okay, if what happened-

“I really like Mr. Stark,” Peter blurted out. “But it’s just…it was always just a celebrity crush. You know, like Leo or George Clooney.” Perfectly admirable celebrity crushes but those were men that Peter would never meet (unless he wanted to meet them, Tony could make that happen, but the flare of jealousy that thought brought made him feel a little ill.)

“So what is it now?” Karen encouraged him to continue talking. Tony wanted to give her an upgrade, to thank her in some way for doing this. Did she know he was listening? He supposed it was possible. She was aware the suit was recorded. She hadn’t told Peter yet.

“I don’t know. I get to actually…know him. It’s different to read about him online or buy a StarkPhone because those are just words or something that was manufactured in some factory somewhere. But in person I can see him literally being Iron Man. Or…see the way he drifts off sometimes.” So Peter prattling on and on earlier had noticed Tony wasn’t listening. He felt as ashamed of that as he was of the kiss.

“Mr. Stark cares about you, Peter,” Karen said. The abrupt statement made Tony jerk and swipe his hand, clearing the feed and throwing him into silence. He didn’t want to know what Peter had to say about that. He couldn’t. Not with the boy’s other words buzzing in his ears. Peter liked Tony, he’d just been caught off guard. He was just inexperienced and nervous. Tony ran his fingers through his hair and watched Dum-E roll by, a spider web glinting in the angle of his arm.

\---

“Incoming call from Peter Parker to Happy Hogan,” FRIDAY said, sterile and polite. She had been little more than a supped up Siri since the night Tony kissed Peter. He was in the process of programming her replacement but it was slow going and agonizing in so many ways because he just wanted JARVIS back and that would never be. He couldn’t recreate JARVIS and he couldn’t openly create a mediocre copy and pretend it wasn’t. Any attempts at replicating what he’d done with JARVIS would be no better than an Elvis impersonator.

It had been over a week since Peter had called Happy, Tony had been checking, as if he was actually interested in the reports rather than trying to avoid building TITLE (his newest AI with a stupid acronym name.) As if he wasn’t waiting for Peter to maybe mention Tony like he used to from time to time before.

“Uh, hey, Happy. Just Peter. Parker. Just me. Calling. Been a while. I, uh, kept forgetting to report in after my patrols. Nothing to report, by the way. Nothing happened. Like, on my patrols, I mean. Okay, uh. I was really hoping maybe you could have Mr. Stark call me? I don’t have his number and…I need to talk to him. Like. Just whenever he has time. Okay. Bye.”

Tony had to force himself to wait a few days to call back.

\---

The rings echoed to Tony. What if Peter didn’t pick up- “Hello?”

“Hey, kid,” Tony said, gazing over the campus of the Avengers compound. Empty except for a few employees at the other facility walking towards the warehouse complex on the eastern side. Part of the facility was where Tony had employed the handfuls of loyal agents leftover after the fall of SHIELD. He funded research and they used it as a headquarters but for the most part they didn’t enter the Avengers building unless invited. They weren’t.

“It’s you. You’ve never. Wow, hey, Mr. Stark. I, uh, just wanted to ask about the training regimen you said you were putting together. Are we still, ya know, gonna do that?” Tony loved it every time Peter called him that, the eager, excited way he said it made Tony’s stomach twist. Like Peter was still surprised whenever Tony turned his attention to him. Would Peter ever know just how much of Tony’s attention was constantly on him?

“You sure you want to?” Tony had to ask, he couldn’t just go off of what he heard when Peter thought no one was listening.

The reply was immediate, almost offended, “Yea, yes, absolutely, Mr. Stark, of course I want to.”

“Listen, Peter, about what happened, I’m-” Tony didn’t even get to apologize for it before Peter cut him off again.

“It’s fine, really. We don’t have to talk about it,” Peter said quickly. He didn’t want to talk and it was equally disappointing as it was relieving. Tony honestly didn’t want to talk about it either. Talking was for after Tony had taken Peter apart with his hands and mouth, talking was for late nights in the lab with their clothes disheveled from an earlier romp against a workbench, talking was-

“Good. That’s good. Happy will get you on Friday, I’ll send your aunt another permission slip,” Tony said, interrupting himself this time. He couldn’t let thoughts like that continue. He would run himself into ruin if he didn’t get a fucking grip. Not with Peter admitting to Karen he wanted Tony. Had wanted Tony since he was old enough to have a celebrity crush. Tony wanted to be a fantasy to Peter. He could do it, he could make real whatever images that flashed behind Peter’s eyes when he stroked himself in his bunk bed with the Spider-man mask on. Tony could be whatever Peter wanted him to be.


	6. Part 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so pleasantly surprised at the positive response this has gotten. I definitely feel my more recent chapters were better than my first few. Thanks for sticking with me. I'm so sorry I haven't had any more smut, I did tag a slow burn! We are getting there.

Tony wanted to stop himself from doing what he was doing but when he stepped back, when he looked at the situation from an outside perspective, he couldn’t find anything to be upset about. A full week of training and things were…good. Surprisingly good. Borderline suspicious honestly with how well it had been going. The kiss was seemingly forgotten.

Peter was brilliant, which Tony had known already but seeing it personally was another story, just like Peter had said about him. The schedule that Tony had put together included time in the labs, even going so far as to build a curriculum and a syllabus for Peter, who drank in the information greedily and actually came prepared each day.

Tony was also surprisingly good at teaching but he suspected it was because Peter was good at learning. The schedule was like this. At least two days a week after school, Peter met with Tony at his satellite lab that he kept in the city. A nondescript Stark Industries building in a quiet neighborhood built several levels under the street to keep the sound complaints down. The main research there was agricultural, miniaturizing plants and trees for space stations and underground facilities and other related indoorsy plant work. Boring to Tony but he offered his help from time to time in the past and Peter had been immediately intrigued.

The section of lab that Tony used with Peter had been a little out of date when they first arrived. Tony set Peter up to practice using the holotable while he ran some updates and scrapped a few unfinished projects to make room for Peter to work. It was private but not entirely. The wall to the hallway was glass- it could be frosted when the work was confidential but it still showed the shapes of bodies on the other side. There was no subtle way to fuck someone against a table that a passerby wouldn’t know what was going on. Not that Tony had considered that when selecting the location. The fact it was an active facility also meant Peter could still go and work on days that Tony wasn’t able to make it to the city. If Peter absolutely needed to go in when he wasn’t scheduled, someone could find a use for him.

The other three days depended on the weekend. Tony was trying not to take Peter every weekend to the compound so he decided every other. Though Peter had sounded disappointed; that made Tony want to buy him a car so he could drive upstate whenever he wanted. If Peter wasn’t going to the compound, either Tony himself or an assigned personal trainer would meet him at a private gym for a two hour session. That way Peter kept the weekend open to do teenager stuff. 

May Parker had met with Tony, they discussed the details of this schedule and she seemed to accept it at face value. It was clear she thought very highly of her nephew and the fact he had earned a place as Tony Stark’s personal protégé was perfectly reasonable. She knew he would excel in his internship, it was only a matter of time before everyone else realized how much he had to offer. She wanted the best for him and if that meant he would be chauffeured to a top secret Stark Industries facility every other weekend, then that’s what she wanted too. She was a little leery of the fact she wasn’t allowed to know the address but when she started going over the NDAs that Peter had to sign she seemed to realize the seriousness of things. Her concern was that it might be too much for an almost 16 year old to be involved in secrecy and potentially dangerous experiments but Tony made sure she knew he would be there at all times. Mrs. Parker obviously didn’t know much about Tony Stark because that actually calmed those fears. Pepper would have laughed.

\---

“Hi, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, that usual excited tone in his voice, the one where he was surprised it really was Tony on the line. There was background noise- and given the time, it was likely he’d just gotten out of school. “I, uh, was wondering where Mr. Happy was going to pick me up?”

“Mr. Happy? Is that your therapist, Parker?” some kid snided in the background. Tony leaned back in his seat, sighing because this was one of the moments he was reminded Peter was not a beautiful young twink, but a teenager. With annoying peers and high school to go to. He wasn’t like Tony when he was his age, going to MIT and getting wasted and having orgies with twenty-somethings.

“If it was that would be a pretty shitty thing to make fun of someone for, Flash,” a bland, feminine voice returned from closer to the phone.

“He’s not coming,” Tony said, taking his chance to speak.

“What? What do you mean? The schedule-” Peter said, a little higher, whinier. It made Tony want to push him face first into a pillow so he couldn’t use that tone of voice again.

“Yea, I want to spread out your weekends here,” Tony said back, tapping a few things on the project he was working on, as if Peter Parker didn’t have his full attention. As if he wasn’t imagining Peter at his lab spread out for the weekend. 

“But I was last there two weeks ago, if- hey!” Peter cut off when there was a scuffling, some kid saying,

“You’re such a shit liar, Parker, you’re probably talking to a hold line. Hey, _Mr. Stark_ ,” the kid said, overdramatically into the receiver. Tony hated him just from his voice alone, regardless of him snatching Peter’s phone. Tony felt bad for Peter, unable to fight back because he could actually hurt the guy.

“Who’s this?” Tony demanded shortly. He didn’t care, this was about principle, someone was messing with Peter at school and that bothered Tony. A lot. He was holding himself back from finding out where the kid’s parents worked and-

“Flash Thompson, aw, Parker hasn’t mentioned me?”

“Listen, kid,” Tony said, already ordering a driver to pick Peter up from his high school, “You’d better give Parker the phone back before I send you the bill for my time you’ve just wasted.”

“Huh?” the kid’s bravado was waning.

“Give. Peter. The phone,” Tony said more sharply. There was a rustling sound and soon a hurried,

“Mr. Stark?”

“Hey kid, stay at the school, there’s a driver on the way to get you. It’s not Happy. Ask him how he thinks the weather is looking, he should answer that he’s brought an umbrella, just in case,” Tony said, now actually distracted by a not so good read out from one of the monitors.

“Like…a code phrase?” Peter asked, sounding slightly awed. “Okay, great. Thanks, Mr. Stark. I’ll wait here. I’ll, uh, see you in a few hours?”

“If I don’t blow myself up before then,” Tony warned, then hung up.

\---

Tony was not at the door to greet Peter, though he wanted to be. He watched on the camera, Vision was there instead, seemingly pleased that Tony had told him Peter was coming for the weekend. Peter talked animatedly to Vision then they parted at Peter’s “room” where Peter slipped inside to drop his bag on the bed. He rifled through his stuff, going into the bathroom for a few minutes, then coming back out and heading out of the room with a bounce in his step.

“Hey, FRIDAY, where’s Mr. Stark?” Peter asked the hallway at large. Tony cut the feed and turned back to the arc reactor, which glowered at him menacingly.

“Tell him how to get down here, tell him to lose the sweatshirt,” Tony answered.

Peter appeared a few minutes later looking confused and excited and wearing a t shirt that had Bob Ross painting space on it. “Oh, wow, is that…safe to be so close to?” he asked, making his way into the room slowly. Tony glanced at him where he was underneath the power paneling on the right-hand side.

“Well, if it blows, everything in a five mile radius will be disintegrated, so might as well go first,” Tony said, earning a nearly cricket inducing silence in return. “It’s not going to blow, there’s a short in here, my recent update patch is disagreeing with this card, I have to swap it for a new one. However, this was a lot easier to work on before I put it all together.” He rolled back out and sat up. “C’mere,” he motioned and took Peter’s wrist when he was close enough, turning his hand over and comparing their palms. Peter’s and was notably more slender than Tony’s but about the same size. Peter’s fingers were longer, artist’s hands his mother would have said, his knuckles not nearly as pronounced as Tony’s with no visible scars at all. “They’ll do. Alright, Sparky, get on your back I need to show you where to stick it.” He lay back on the creeper and rolled under the panel box to avoid seeing Peter’s reaction. This felt surprisingly more natural, less terrifying after hearing Peter’s conversation with Karen. Tony wasn’t sure what that made him..

Under the panel box it was hot, the fans and cooling equipment keeping the air moving but it was uncomfortable for sure. Sweat had been dripping down Tony’s face already but it got even more stifling once Peter got on his back and shimmied under. The kid blocked the air that had been flowing from outside and Tony could smell him strongly, he must have put on fresh deodorant when he went into the bathroom. 

“Okay, see that card, it has to come out,” Tony said, pointing. Peter hesitated, then reached in as well and immediately touched the wrong card. “Ah! Jesus, are you trying to cause a meltdown? This one. No. Okay.” He got frustrated and reached back in, guiding Peter’s hand in the tight space, directing his fingers to the card that needed moved. Peter’s skin was smooth but clammy, he was nervous. Tony took the card when Peter withdrew and he passed him the new one.

Their heads were touching. Tony’s hair was messy with sweat and Peter was a few inches lower because of the creeper Tony was on. Tony imagined how it might feel to turn his head and kiss Peter here, in the too-warm privacy of the reactor room without the risk of any interruptions or even a video feed he’d have to wipe. 

Peter was breathing heavier, his hands were lingering in the machine despite having completed the task. This was a moment- Tony knew he could turn his head and he could find Peter’s lips and he wouldn’t be pushed away again. A moment that passed. Tony rolled out from under the panel and sat up, Peter scooting and following suit. They couldn’t start the weekend like this. It was Friday evening. If Tony kissed Peter now he would have the boy’s virginity by midnight. He couldn’t do that. If he spent the weekend fucking Peter until he couldn’t stand up anymore, it would ruin the schedule.

“So, uh, what’s the plan for the weekend?” Peter, as if reading Tony’s mind, asked in the silence. Well, it wasn’t silence but it was the closest Tony ever let himself get. Drone of the arc reactor, whirring of the cooling system, ticking of computerized thought.

“Well given it’s almost seven, food and the night off,” Tony said, “It’s too late to start any projects or kick your ass in the gym.”

“I’m not ten, my bedtime isn’t nine o’clock anymore,” Peter said in a rare expression of actual personality that made Tony scoff. Tony knew there was some sass under all those fidgety nerves. Some wit that waited to be let out but got lost whenever he looked at Tony with those starry eyes. “There’s plenty of time to at least go to the gym. We could just do some circuits or the rock wall. No Spider-man stuff.”

“Geez, you sound just like my general practitioner,” Tony grumbled, “Constantly saying, ’There’s always time for the gym, Tony, you only sleep four hours at a time anyway, might as well get some exercise in!’ or ‘You need to eat food at least once every eight hours’ and whatever.” Peter’s expression flickered but he laughed anyway, probably just to keep it from being weird, but Tony knew he made it weird by talking about that.

Tony folded up the creeper and gathered the toolkit he’d been using, zipping it closed and sticking it in his back pocket. “Now that we aren’t going to fry, what are you thinking for dinner?” He lead the way out of the reactor room and down the hall towards the service elevator.

“What’s close by?” Peter asked, hands going to his pockets. Tony thought he was walking very close to him but he wasn’t sure if it was just the way Peter made Tony’s skin prickle when he was near.

“Nothing at all, we’re in bumfuck. I’m feeling like Chipotle,” Tony said, pulling his phone out and tapping the app. The elevator doors closed and Peter _was_ too close to him now, at his elbow, leaning over to look at the screen of his phone.

“You actually like Chipotle?”

“I fucking love Chipotle. I’ve thought about buying Chipotle but I think food I don’t own always tastes better.” Keep talking, don’t let him get to you, don’t stop or you’re going to lay hands on him. The schedule. Schedules were important for young people. Teach discipline that you never had, Tony.

“I’m more of a Five Guys myself,” Peter said, which made Tony stop in his ordering. Five Guys sounded delicious. It also sounded like one hell of a night with Peter and three attractive young hookers-

“Good call. But we’ll have to go there. You can’t have cold Five Guys. Can you drive yet?”

“Well, I can’t get my learner’s until I turn 16 but that’s in like, three weeks, so, I mean, technically no-”

“Do you _want_ to drive?” Tony cut him off and Peter’s face just lit up. It was a minimum of a half an hour to the nearest town, mostly just a straight shot through some private, woodsy road. Tony could just switch him when they got to the main gate onto the public road. The look on Peter’s face was already worth it.

“Uh, hell yes I want to drive,” Peter said because he’d seen Tony’s miniscule car collection he kept here at the compound and had been dutifully impressed by it anyway.

“Alright, I’m going to go change,” Tony said, “Go pick a car.” He waved Peter off, handing him the creeper to put in the garage and they split at the stairs. Tony’s suite was upstairs. It was separate from the other rooms, he liked his privacy and wasn’t into the “dorm” style living down on the main floor. Maybe because he’d always considered himself apart from the rest of the team.

Tony got dressed in a fresh t shirt and jeans, a random pair of limited edition Nikes and a blazer. His hair was already a wreck so he just added some hairspray before he slipped on a pair of red sunglasses and went back downstairs. Peter had picked the black Stingray, not his first choice but he’d selected a few less conspicuous vehicles to keep here for when someone on the team wanted to go out. Probably one of the safer options for the kid’s first foray into driving sports cars. It was even automatic.

“I’ve, uh, never driven stick,” Peter said, once again catching what Tony was thinking about. Tony gave a half a smile and shrugged one shoulder as he grabbed the key fob from the hooks on the wall.

“No big deal, I’ll teach you stick whenever you’re ready,” the older man said.

Peter caught the fob when Tony threw it at him and looked at it curiously. “It’s all automatic, just put that in your pocket,” Tony added with a laugh. He got into the passenger side and adjusted the seat. Peter got in and the seat automatically moved to his height, the boy looking excited as he pressed his finger to the “start” button and it rumbled to life. He held the wheel, sliding his hands along it reverently.

“Better big-toe that pedal, you need to go slow on your way out of here,” Tony explained as Peter looked over the dash and the controls. He fiddled with the gear shift, “You need to put your foot on the break to shift from park. Yea, exactly, don’t even use the gas, let it back out on its own.” Peter was nervous that much was clear but it wasn’t a bad nervous. They creeped out of the parking space and Peter cut the wheel so they were facing down the center of the lines of vehicles. He was careful on the gas and made it up the ramp and out the garage door without incident. “Left,” Tony said when they reached the road of the facility. It was luckily vacant, no agents on golf carts or scientists having a smoke break to see Peter driving over the perfectly manicured lawn, leaving tire indents where he didn’t stay on the paving.

The large gate opened automatically and Peter rolled through. “Take a right,” Tony directed once again. “There. You’re following this road for at least twenty minutes, go ahead and open her up as much as you want. Your spider-sense makes you the only human who can pod race, right?” Peter gave a bright laugh and when Tony looked over at him, he was blushing. Because Tony made a Star Wars reference. This was too easy. But it was also wonderful.

Peter was very quiet otherwise once they were on the open road. Open enough given it was through dense temperate forest. In the fall it was beautiful to drive but at the moment it was less impressive. It was the beginning of spring and there were not nearly enough dogwoods to make the view interesting. Instead the trees looked kind of scraggly. But Tony was just trying to find something else to focus on instead of staring at Peter. Peter who was biting at his lip and alternating from gripping the wheel with white knuckles to letting out a deep breath and loosening it.

Ironically Tony had spent less time “with” Peter the more time he _actually_ spent with Peter. The boy hadn’t gone on as many patrols since they started this training and given that he spent the time before going to bed doing his homework, Tony had gotten radio silence instead of his fairly regular nightly sessions. That was a good thing, he supposed, so he didn’t have to look Peter in the eye knowing he’d jerked off to him only a few hours earlier. Tony was better at compartmentalizing things when there was some time between.

Tony chuckled when Peter hit the gas a little hard and sent them both pressing into their seats. He grabbed the handle above the door to keep from putting his other hand on Peter’s thigh. Peter apologized but Tony cut him off, “It’s fine, get a feel for her. Seriously, kid, there’s no one on this road, it’s blocked from the public.” Peter looked over at him briefly with a mildly worried smile, but was immediately focused on the road again. He breathed out then pushed on the pedal a bit more slowly. The engine grew louder as the speedometer creeped higher. They took a curve at forty and Peter let out an excited laugh that settled warmly in Tony’s stomach.

“This next stretch is good, go for it,” Tony encouraged. He glanced at the needle rising until they were at eighty, almost ninety, but Peter saw an approaching bend and eased off. He was such a good kid. Tony would have taken the risk at his age, even without super reflexes. They didn’t talk but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Peter was concentrating, it was clear by the increasingly familiar furrow to his brow and Tony was content letting Peter hold the wheel, literally and figuratively. It gave Tony the chance to steal looks at the kid. It was different so close. He didn’t know if he could get used to this- to being in person.

Peter had a strong profile with distinct features. Tony imagined sliding his thumb along the line of his clenching jaw and down his throat, letting it settle at the base of his collarbones while his fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. It would be a warm, possessive grip and Peter would lean into it- stop, don’t get distracted. This wasn’t lovers out for a leisurely drive, it was a letting a 15 (almost 16) year old practice driving. There wasn’t anything sexual about this thing that should have been done by a parent.

The second gate appeared ahead of them, inconspicuous and nondescript. Like the gate at the compound it was unmanned but monitored by the AI system.

“Alright, let’s switch,” Tony said when Peter rolled to a stop. Peter relinquished the driver’s seat without argument, grinning as he made his way around to the passenger side. His leg bounced when he settled back inside. “So what’d you think?”

“That was really fun,” Peter answered excitedly when Tony buckled his seatbelt. “Can I drive back too? I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course,” Tony acquiesced immediately. If there was something he could do to keep that smile on Peter’s face, he wouldn’t dare say no. “So, first time?”

“Huh?” Peter looked confused and maybe embarrassed.

“Driving,” Tony added.

“Oh, that, yea, wait, no,” Peter said. Tony tried not to get annoyed. Peter’s nervousness had been so cute at first, endearing even, but Tony felt comfortable with Peter, the way one did with someone they’d seen naked dozens of times, who’s personal life you knew intimately. It was difficult to remember he was essentially a stranger to Peter. “No, I’ve driven with May a few times but she’s working more recently and we try not to move the car because it’s hard to find parking near the apartment.”

Tony nodded, “Well, let’s add it to the schedule. That can be Friday nights at the Compound. Drive Night.” He drove into town on autopilot as they talked. “We’ll schedule your test soon as you log your hours.” Peter didn’t respond. Tony glanced over to find Peter looking at him with an odd expression on his face. It was a very adult expression.

“Why? I mean, wow, I appreciate it, but, like…this isn’t. I mean to say. It’s not part of Spider-Man. Or the real internship,” Peter said, curious, awed, confused. Tony was silent through a stop light, only speaking when they pulled away again.

“Peter,” Tony started, then stopped again, turning and parking at Five Guys. “I know that the Compound doesn’t seem like much, but.” He hated this topic- he hated Steve for- God, Peter’s face was so beautiful. He stared at Tony in that eager, ‘tell me more,’ way he had and it made the spike of anger at Steve fade back to the dull ache. “We used to be a family. The Avengers.” It lingered in the air, making Tony look out the windshield at the restaurant devoid of customers.

“You don’t like Vision, do you?” Peter asked after a moment. Tony’s head turned back to him sharply. “You don’t look at him when he’s in the room.” Tony was sorry that Peter had noticed. He shook his head.

“I don’t want to get into this. But what I’m saying, if I’m saying anything,” Peter quirked a little smile, “Is that you’re part of this. Even if it’s just us right now.” Tony got out of the car to avoid looking at Peter after saying something so personal.

They ordered, both getting milkshakes, and sat at a table to wait, picking peanuts out of a cardboard bowl, their fingers occasionally bumping as they did. Tony asked how Peter’s latest Spanish test went, Peter talked about his difficulty with present perfect tense and Tony went over a few things with him. He basked briefly in the way Peter looked at him, as if the fact he spoke Spanish was a wonderful thing- Tony was no linguist but he’d definitely had to pick up a few. Spanish he’d learned to impress an Argentinian figure skater.

Tony pressed Peter to talk about himself but Peter had this tendency to whirl the conversation back around on Tony. He ended up telling the kid about the figure skater.

“Well, did it work?” Peter asked, absorbed in the story. “Did she go out with you?” Go out with. Cute. Fuck, Peter was young and naive. 

“Well he slept with me if that’s what you’re asking,” Tony asked around a mouthful of his burger. He had little experience with children, he didn’t know what was or wasn’t appropriate to talk to young people about. And he couldn’t even compare to his own youth- he’d never had one.

Peter blushed high on his cheeks but didn’t back down. “I mean, I guess,” he said though it was clearly just to have something to say. 

“Sorry to burst your romantic, virgin bubble,” Tony scoffed, though he immediately regretted the words. Peter flushed deeper and threw a fry at Tony as he glanced towards the counter. The employees were loitering around and had tried taking a sneaky picture of them but Tony had made eye contact and shook his head earlier. That had worked this long but who knew. Peter was at least laughing, though he was embarrassed. 

“That’s not fair,” he complained, “I can’t help that.” 

“And that’s a bold faced lie,” Tony muttered into his milkshake.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Peter looked genuinely offended now.

“Are you actually fishing for compliments?” Tony laughed. 

Peter blushed again but he, surprisingly, didn’t back down, “Why, did I use the wrong bait?” Tony laughed again, pleased and surprised because Peter was _flirting_ with him. 

“Oh, the pup does have a bark, but does he have bite?” he asked, his tone a little more dangerous. The shift seemed to have struck a nerve with Peter and his demeanor changed slightly, his chin dipping lower so he had to look up at Tony, his fingers fidgeting with his drink as if he hadn’t expected to get this far. Tony had mercy on them both and crumpled up his wrapper, tossing it into the bag and leaning back in his seat to finish his shake. 

“Well, let’s head back,” he said, gathering the trash off the table and throwing it out, watching the careful way Peter wiped the peanut crumbs into his hand. “They pay someone to do that you know,” he added. Peter rolled his eyes, still red in the face, then followed Tony back out to the car. 

They were quiet and Tony missed that little bit of spunk Peter showed earlier. 

“Mr. Stark, when you kissed me-” but yelped because Tony nearly drove into a stop sign. 

“Woah, what, I thought we weren’t talking about that,” Tony said, his entire vibe thrown off by the sudden, seemingly random mention. 

“We aren’t but I was just thinking-”

“Please don’t,” Tony’s voice was much quieter now. He really didn’t want to talk about this. Especially not after how nice the evening had been. It was fully dark now, they were alone, enclosed in a car where only FRIDAY knew where they were and what they were talking about. Peter could say something potentially devastating. 

“Can I just say...one thing?” Peter requested, his imploring tone making Tony’s resolve crumble. He would do anything for that soft, sweet voice. The same voice he could vividly imagine begging him, _please, Mr. Stark, please._

“One thing.”

“I wouldn’t mind if it happened again. Like, if it wasn’t a surprise.” 

Tony swallowed, then cleared his throat, gripping the wheel with both hands. Keep them on the wheel. “Do you know what you could be getting into?” 

“No. But I never have. Why stop now?”


	7. Part 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I finished this in a night over the weekend. Also the author abuses jumping ahead in the plot in this one.

Tony was drunk. Not black out drunk, not belligerent, not sloppy, just...drunk. Drunk enough to do something stupid. Too much whiskey to call it tipsy, not enough to forget anything. Just enough to want to slip into Peter’s room and slip into Peter. Tony snorted. That was a lame joke, even in his own head. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter’s voice echoed in the garage and Tony choked on the bottle he’d raised to his lips, spilling it on himself. The radio played some twenty one pilots song at an annoyingly reasonable volume.

“Do you ever sleep?” Tony asked. Peter peeked into the car and saw Tony dabbing at his shirt with a McDonald’s napkin. He crinkled his nose at the strong booze smell.

“I already told you it’s too quiet here,” Peter disagreed. He opened the door and Tony just looked at him stupidly, swaying slightly, luckily not falling out of the vehicle. “Scoot over?” Tony made a quiet “oh” sound and climbed over the console with some difficulty, falling into the bucket seat on the passenger side without a shred of grace. Peter shoved his leg out of the way and got in, shutting the door and buckling up. Tony slowly reached for his own seatbelt, still staring at Peter with his mouth slightly open. He’d never seen the boy so outgoing before. 

“Where we going, kid?” Tony asked when Peter pressed the start button. 

“Left I guess,” Peter answered cryptically. Tony groaned and closed his eyes, leaning into his seat. 

“I’ve been drinking,” he admitted. Because the bottle of Jim Beam rolling under the driver’s seat wasn’t proof enough of that. 

“I know.”

“Well I can’t...drive.”

“I’m driving.”

“Peter.”

“ _Mr. Stark._ ” 

Tony ran both his hands down his face. “Fuck, it makes me hard when you say it like that,” he whispered, for some reason thinking Peter wouldn’t be able to hear him. Maybe he didn’t because they continued up the ramp and out of the garage without incidence. 

They turned left outside of the gate, which was probably what Peter was talking about when he’d said “left” and okay that made sense. But Peter didn’t know what was even out there. Spoiler alert, it was nothing. 

Peter didn’t drive fast, which was fine, they were in an Audi R8, _fast_ was not a good idea for a 16 year old with a learner’s permit. Being alone in an Audi R8 with an inebriated man three times your age at two in the morning was also not a good idea but there they were.

“Peter, c’mon, you had your fun, let’s go back,” Tony said, waving his hand at the dash, “Turn ‘er around, let’s go.” Peter ignored him and it was getting weird. Tony was nervous so he got quiet, something that would shock most but Peter wouldn't know to notice. Tony tended to make more noise the more uncomfortable he was. 

The road used to lead to an old hunting cabin Howard Stark had owned but never used, several miles out from the compound the road would come to a cul de sac with a dirt road leading off to the north, the compound back off to the southwest. The old cabin was still there, run down and decrepit, half fallen in and overgrown with plant life. Tony saw it flash by in the headlights behind the brush but Peter stopped right at the bend, the car purring when he put it in park. The headlights flicked off, leaving just the low LED running lights on the empty pavement. The trees were only a little ominous. 

“Can you, uh, slide your seat back?” Peter asked. Tony stupidly did because he was apparently not reading the signals, too distracted thinking about how creepy this place was in the middle of the night. He looked up and watched with slow realization what was happening. Peter reached for him.

They kissed. Tony returned it with hunger, leaning towards Peter, sinking his fingers into the boy’s soft brown hair. A slender hand rested on Tony’s thigh, then moved, pressing the release on the seatbelt. Peter leaned back and the strap moved off Tony’s chest and settled back into the slot. Tony’s heart raced. Peter gazed at him with fiery eyes that Tony had dreamed about, he licked his spit shiny lips, Tony leaned back in. 

Peter moved away though, clicking off his own seatbelt before Tony could get disappointed. The boy got up, turning in his seat and swinging his leg over the console. It was awkward. Tony barely had time to react before knees were framing his thighs and he found his shaky hands landing on Peter’s hips. He was so warm through the thin material of his shirt and cotton pajama bottoms, which Tony could see Peter’s chub clearly. There wasn’t even a slight chance that the kid was wearing underwear. 

“This is kind of forward, don’t you think?” Tony asked, his dumb mouth running. If his cock could punch him, he was pretty sure it would.

“I got tired of waiting,” Peter said, his face so close to Tony’s. It was a solid point. Peter had admitted to him four weeks ago that he wouldn’t be opposed to being kissed again. Tony had been very good and kept his filthy paws to himself. He’d even paid for Peter and his two friends to have an all inclusive trip to Coney Island for his Sweet Sixteen weekend. But with Peter so damn close...

Tony kissed him and it was like coming up for air. He wrapped his arm around Peter’s slender waist and held nothing back. The kiss was filthy- it didn’t even matter that Peter was inexperienced because Tony dominated it, licking into his mouth and groaning. He had no self control left but enough sense to know he might regret this. Might. But he’d also wanted this for months. He’d thought of no one else like this since the first time he watched Peter jerk off on Baby Monitor. 

“Do you have any idea what I want to do to you?” Tony panted, already sweating. Peter was like a furnace. 

“No, c-can you tell me?” Peter’s boldness hadn’t faded. His hips rolled and Tony’s body went with it, thrusting up eagerly. 

“I want to fuck you until you’re saying my name so loud the security drones investigate,” Tony’s alcohol-loosened tongue spewed. He was notorious for being filthy when sober, but add a little booze and his entire resolve not to ruin Peter’s life went down the drain. It showed just how pathetically thin that line had been for him. Peter moaned, one arm around Tony’s neck, the other hand gripping the seat as he rode Tony’s lap. He was good. A natural, one might say.

“Okay. Okay, yes,” Peter agreed, nodding. Tony distracted him with another kiss, his cock throbbing when Peter’s tongue touched his own in return. Because that was absurd, this was only their second time kissing and the first barely counted.

“Absolutely not,” Tony whispered. 

“I want to, I can’t think of anyone else I would want to do it with.”

“Have you even gotten your cock sucked before?”

“No but-”

“But nothing. I’m not taking your virginity. Not before you’ve experimented. And definitely not in a car.” 

“But it’s a really sexy car. And you’re really sexy. And I want you to fuck me.” 

It was the dirtiest thing Peter had ever said Tony was certain of that and it was exactly what Tony wanted to hear. He was out of reasons to say no. “I...shouldn’t.” 

“And I shouldn’t be driving this car without a license, who cares? Besides, a bunch of my classmates lost their virginity in a car, but it’s like, their parents’ car, this is way cooler.”

“Cool? You wanna fuck me because it’s cool?” 

“Please, Mr. Stark. _Mr. Stark_ please fuck me,” Peter whispered directly into Tony’s ear and it was over. Tony unbuttoned his jeans and tugged the fly, pushing his pants and boxers down to his ankles without ceremony, Peter lifting up to make room. Tony didn’t question the bottle of lube Peter offered him, it was one of his own. They were stashed around the compound but this one probably came out of the kitchen, Peter had rifled through the drawers looking for a Sharpie earlier. 

“Did you get a condom too?” Tony asked, whispering all of a sudden. The moment had gotten really heavy once his dick was out. Peter reached between them and gripped him, the darkness making it hard to tell his expression. Fall Out Boy was playing on the radio, a song that was way poppier than this situation called for.

“No,” Peter breathed back, “I didn’t think about it. I mean...are you…?”

“Yea, yea, I’m clean,” Tony said. He was trying not to think about the way Peter was stroking him, if he did, he’d bust in moments. This had a surreal, blurry edge to it all of a sudden, like this couldn’t possibly be happening. It was so fast. So sudden. They’d only _kissed_ before and now he was on him begging for it. Tony had imagined fucking him so many times but this was different.

“Then it’s okay, right?” Peter asked. Finally, a little uncertainty. That Tony completely brushed off in favor of kissing him. He just couldn’t get enough. It was like having dessert every time he could delve his tongue into the boy’s warm mouth.

“It’ll be easier if you turn around,” Peter did so, turning and holding onto the door as he lowered back to Tony’s lap.

“I don’t know what to do,” Peter admitted. Duh, Tony thought to himself. He helped Peter out of his pants, the boy leaning forward toward the dash to do so and he dropped the lube in his haste to grab Peter’s ass. Firm. Round. Perky. Exactly what Tony had imagined it would feel like.

“Stay like that,” Tony said, fumbling for the lube but Peter found it and handed it back. He squirted some out and spread it on Peter’s entrance, the tight space of the car nothing compared to how Peter felt around his fingers. Peter made a soft sound of discomfort and shifted away from the probing intrusion.

“You don’t have to do that for long. I don’t really like fingers,” Peter said, gasping a little when Tony twisted his fingers to search for his spot. He was struggling, honestly, this would be way better if he was sober and they had a bed. But it probably (maybe) wouldn’t be happening if Tony was sober and in bed. 

“It’ll hurt,” Tony warned. He’d fucked people in his car- plenty of people actually. He’d fucked complete strangers. But this was Peter, the boy he was supposed to be mentoring, teaching, training- the one he’d been watching. He’d jerked off to this mere thought so many times and here it was, literally in his lap, begging to be fucked. This was a moment he’d never get again. And if it completely ruined any chance he had at salvation, well, Hell would be worth this.

“I know. God, I know. You’re a lot bigger than the toy I have,” Peter said back with a hint of reverence.

“I want to split you in half right now.” 

“Your fingers are so rough, please get on with it,” Peter murmured. 

Tony was weak. He lubed his cock. Raw. He couldn’t believe that this wasn’t a dream. Gently as he could manage, he guided Peter down into his lap. “Feel that?” 

“I would have to be dead not to,” the teen sassed, tensing up.

Tony laughed breathlessly, dropping his head back against the seat, pulling Peter gently as he could manage.

“Ah, ah, slow down. Slow down. Oh, ow,” Peter whined, making Tony stop again. 

“I’m not even halfway in.”

“I can feel you in my stomach and you’re not even-” Peter broke off with a cry when Tony pulled him down another inch. Peter’s back was arched dramatically and he whimpered. “It really, really hurts.”

“I know,” Tony said. Peter’s complaining was good, it kept Tony focused, kept him from doing what he desperately wanted to. He added more lube. Peter was panting, there was a snap and Tony’s head jerked. “Easy on the car,” he warned but he was alarmed that Peter was holding the door so hard he was nearly breaking it. His attention narrowed in on the boy’s breathing. It was harsh and uneven, like he was holding his breath then reminding himself to stop.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t think...oh, I can’t,” Peter said and Tony didn’t need to hear more. He lifted Peter until his cock slipped out and held him against his chest. Peter let out a little cry of relief. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Give me a minute, I can, I really can do it,” he said but Tony, even drunk, could tell he was holding back from crying and only just barely.

“You don’t have to do this,” Tony said against the back of Peter’s head. He nosed his hair. Yes, he wanted to fuck Peter until he was sobbing but he wanted those tears to be good ones, not pain filled. He felt guilty for the discomfort, but this wasn’t even Tony’s idea.

“I know but, I started it. I just...it’s already- We can’t go back from this. I want to finish it. It’s just...more than I expected,” Peter insisted. Tony helped him turn around in his lap, his erection trapped beneath the boy again as he kissed him. It was a lot gentler this time. 

“I’m not exactly a starter dick, it might not get better this time,” Tony warned. If Peter didn’t want to stop, Tony wouldn’t, but he wouldn’t give the impression it was going to be mind blowing. Tony wasn’t bragging but his dick wasn’t small and for a first time he could imagine the burn Peter probably felt even from that halfway start.

Peter laughed breathlessly, his sex blush reaching his chest, “I douched for this. Do you know how awkward that was? I _have_ to.” The mood was getting lighter, which was good. Peter stroked Tony’s cock which was just dripping with lube now and Tony groaned. Peter shifted into a squat that if not for the fact he was Spider-Man, Tony wouldn’t believe it was possible. It spread Peter open completely, the boy’s erection standing at attention as he lowered down, guiding himself onto Tony. Tony stroked Peter gently, his fingers loose and touch light to keep it from being too much. It felt just like it looked in the videos, that thick vein throbbed down the side. Focus on Peter, Tony coached himself because the heat lowering down his length was going to end this quickly. 

“Not on the upholstery,” Tony breathed, grabbing Peter’s wrist to stop him grabbing anything with his lube-y hand. He put the hand on his shoulder, making him wipe it on the cotton of his t shirt. 

“That feels better,” Peter whispered, his mouth hanging open. Tony felt Peter’s cock twitch in his hand. 

“Good, fuck, fuck, that’s good,” Tony said back, distracted. He was focusing on the song, Hotline Bling, which he didn’t even realize they still played but apparently this station of satellite radio missed that memo.

“Is it okay for you?” Peter asked, which, just, _no._

“It’s so good I’m imagining the music video of this song to keep from busting right now,” Tony said, again his tongue loose and way too honest. Peter laughed and it sounded lovely, breathless and needy. Tony slowly rocked his hips up to encourage Peter to move.

“I’m...really close too,” Peter admitted. 

“You first. Please, you first.” 

Peter’s hand moved down and replaced Tony’s, stroking himself. “Can I...on you?” Tony nodded and lifted his shirt, pulling it up to expose his firm stomach. Peter was not good at multitasking so Tony thrust gently, shallow and easy but it was only a couple before Peter’s climax hit. Tony could feel it in the pulsing around his dick before Peter actually shot his load on him. And the dark, though his eyes were adjusted, made him miss that part, his gaze focused entirely on the way Peter’s face looked. He’d seen Peter blow plenty of semen onto a flat, toned stomach, it was his face he’d never seen like this. 

Peter was shaking, his legs, his hands, he trembled and Tony seemed to realize just what the fuck they were doing and he tried to pull out. Peter went down with him though, not letting him slide out. The motion had Peter drop further than he had been previously, far too deep, too hard, he cried out and a big glob of cum dropped from his cock, forced out by the direct hit to his prostate. Tony was finished. He held the headrest and barely kept it together as he thrust weakly through it, then sank back into the seat, spent.

“Woah,” Peter whispered, “Oh...ow.” He slipped off of Tony and twisted, landing in the driver’s seat with a gasp. They stayed like that, panting and sticky, for several long moments, catching their breath. Tony felt shockingly sobered by his orgasm and it seemed his mind was too fucked to realize the gravity of things.

“I kind of expected it to last longer,” Peter said. 

“It usually does,” Tony laughed. 

“Next time?” Peter asked while he was pulling his pajama pants back on. 

“Dear, sweet, Jesus,” Tony whispered, leaning forward to find his boxers. “Next time?”

“Well...I really want to do it again. Do...you?”

“Fuck, yes, of course I do, but…” 

“But, what? You already did it. Why not do it again?” 

Tony buttoned his jeans and looked at Peter, who, seeming very pleased with himself, turned the car back on. “You got me,” Tony said simply.

They drove back to the compound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still a smut fic, even with the burn turning slow for a bit there. There is reasoning behind this that will be explained soon. Since I'm not writing chapters from Peter's perspective, a bit happens that Tony isn't aware of.


	8. Part 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd. I don't know why I titled these "part ??" because they're just chapters but whatever.

“Play it again,” Tony requested, turning his swivel chair from left to right idly. The audio started.

_“I wouldn’t mind if it happened again.”_

_“Why stop now?”_

Tony fiddled with his phone, turning it over and over in his hands. He didn’t remember how long you were supposed to wait to text people after a hookup. He kind of didn’t do that. It was the Sunday after and Peter had gone home a while ago. They busted ass that morning in the training room, Peter didn’t behave any differently and because of that, neither did Tony. He didn’t go easy on Peter and Peter didn’t act like he was in any sort of pain or discomfort though really, that two-pump-chump of a lay hadn’t been enough for the kid to be limping.

“Playback audio from Saturday night in the prototype,” Tony ordered. His new AI did so without comment. He’d given up on programming personality into his AI and frankly he didn’t miss it.

“Pardon the interruption, Mr. Parker has initiated a phone conversation within the suit,” TITLE said, polite and disinteresting.

“Patch it through,” Tony said, his heart in his throat. He had requested being informed of calls because he knew Peter wouldn’t keep it to himself, he was a 16 year old with one friend, there was no way he’d hold back something this juicy. And once Karen had told Peter he could make hands-free phone calls in the suit he tended to do that fairly often and it made it easier to listen in.

“Are you _serious_?” a male voice hissed.

“Ned, where are you?” Peter said back, which immediately answered Tony’s question of who it was, “I can’t talk about it right now!”

“You’re probably on some roof in Queens, who’s going to hear you?” Ned responded. Tony tapped open the visual feed and Peter looked down at the railing he was sitting on.

“Fine, but aren’t you at home?”

“Yea but no one is here. You’re serious? You lost your virginity?”

“I mean. Yea,” Peter sounded a mixture of embarrassed and proud.

“I knew you’d be first, I hate being the fat friend,” Ned didn’t actually sound upset though. There was a moment of fuzzy silence. “Well, are you gonna tell me or what? You can’t text news like that and not tell me details. When? Who?”

“Saturday night. At the Compound,” Peter said, he laughed breathlessly, the sound Tony was addicted to.

“No fucking way!”

“Oh my god, shh.”

“No. Fucking. Way. What was it like?”

“It was good. It was really good,” Peter answered, which made Tony a little embarrassed because it really hadn’t been. “You know that car I was telling you about, the one he wouldn’t let me drive?”

“The R8? No fucking way. Were you IN the car?” Ned asked excitedly. Tony hadn’t realized how much of what they did at the Compound Peter shared with Ned. Did Peter have _any _secrets?__

__“Yea,” Peter was just as excited, “He was already in it so I got in and just, like, drove it out.”_ _

__“He was just sitting in the car?” Ned interrupted._ _

__“Yea, he drinks in there. Karen told me.”_ _

__“So he was drunk?”_ _

__“A little, I guess?”_ _

__“I can’t believe this. This isn’t real life. You stole Tony Stark’s prototype car, with him in it, drunk, and convinced him to sex with you. That’s what you’re saying right now.”_ _

__“Ned, geez, it sounds...really bad when you put it like that,” Peter said, sounding a bit less excited. “I didn’t… _convince_ him.”_ _

__“You said he hasn’t touched you since he kissed you that one time and that was, what, six weeks ago? And you told him you wanted him to do it again, right? And he didn’t.”_ _

__“Yea, but,” Peter said, cowed, “the stuff he was saying to me…he definitely wanted to.” Tony wanted to interrupt, to reassure Peter he more than wanted to. The “convincing” had been mostly just for show, he knew he was going to get inside Peter the moment the kid sat in his lap._ _

__“Did you at least use protection?” Ned was really hitting all the soft spots wasn’t he? Peter didn’t answer. The heart monitor had jumped. “Oh my god, Peter. You said yourself he’s been around, what are you thinking?”_ _

__“Well I was thinking I wasn’t going to get a lecture from my best friend after the most amazing weekend of my life,” Peter grumbled. “Thanks for ruining it for me, Ned, really, thanks.”_ _

__“Oh, hey, that’s not what I meant,” Ned said. Though Tony was still hung up that Peter said that thirty seconds of glory was the best weekend of his life. Not that they hadn’t had fun training together or working on one of his new project cars but the dynamic was different._ _

__“You pretty much just said I took advantage of him!” Peter was upset and Tony was shocked, this wasn’t what he expected. He grabbed his phone and texted Peter._ _

____

_Still coming tomorrow?_

“You kind of did though,” Ned pointed out.

“Text from Daddy, Fire, Lovestruck Cat Face, Hands Raised in Celebration,” Karen said politely, interrupting the conversation. She read the text for Peter. Tony was completely boggled by the whole exchange before he realized she was saying emojis out loud. Peter had set his contact information as ‘Daddy’ with emojis and Tony didn’t even know what to think of that. “Shall I send a response?”

“Yea, yes. Tell him ‘of course.’ Uh, and,” Peter paused, “Ask him if we should talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” Ned asked, having not heard Karen.

_Of course. Should we talk about it?_

“Tony texted me,” Peter said, which he had never called him Tony before and it made his stomach flutter annoyingly. He liked that Peter called him Mr. Stark but the familiarity of using his first name made him warm. “He was checking that I’m still coming to the internship tomorrow. He did that after the kiss too.”

“So he’s not mad at you, he thinks you’re mad at him,” Ned surmised.

“Yea, I guess.”

“You guys are a mess.”

\---

Peter smiled weakly as he entered ‘their’ lab, bag slung over his shoulder and a cup of Starbucks in hand. “Can we talk about it first, I don’t think I can last another minute worrying about this,” he said setting his backpack under the table and using the half empty cup to occupy himself.

“What’s to talk about?” Tony asked, playing dumb.

“I mean…look, Mr. Stark, let’s just…I want to put it all out there. Like, so we can be on the same page. I want to have sex with you again,” Peter said, sounding like he might have practiced this. He didn’t have the same bravery that he did Saturday night but he was definitely feeling confident in what he was saying. He definitely meant it, even if he was clearly nervous of Tony’s response.

“Okay. Well, you and I both know it could get me in a lot of trouble right?” Tony decided to open with. Peter was trying to be strong, Tony could tell, but the boy was struggling with the intense eye contact.

“Yea, but no one needs to know. No one will find out. I’ve kept Spider-Man a secret for, like, almost a year,” Peter pointed out, a very fair point.

“Except your tubby friend,” Tony said.

“Well, I mean, he’s my best friend, we talk about everything,” Peter said, though his face was reddening, then he added hurriedly, “He can keep a secret too though!” Tony couldn’t comfortably make this decision, he was too far gone and he knew it. He’d wanted too hard for too long. He’d been alone and angry and barely sleeping. Peter had been his only comfort, the person he most looked forward to seeing, the boy whose life had become irrevocably entwined with Tony’s. Tony needed Peter and he could not possibly do the right thing and end this. 

That night when they got back to the Compound Tony had gone to bed and crashed. He didn’t bother to take off his cum stained clothes, just fell into bed and clocked out. It was the most sleep he’d gotten in one night for weeks. He could only imagine how it would feel to fall asleep with Peter in his arms.

“You put a lot of planning into that thing in the car, didn’t you?” Tony asked. He was honestly impressed by Peter’s gall, and if he’d doubted the boy’s mutual attraction before, he couldn’t now and that was equal parts wonderful and dangerous. 

“I…yea. I did. Ever since you kissed me I’ve been thinking about more,” Peter admitted. “And it’s not like I haven’t, you know, done myself.”

“Peter...why me? Don’t you have anyone your age to experiment with?” Tony asked, wanting to understand what reasoning lead Peter into Tony’s lap. If it was Tony initiating it, it made sense, he’d been obsessing over Peter for ages. But Peter didn’t have that excuse. What gorgeous sixteen year old wanted to fuck some old man?

“No, but what do you mean, ‘why me’? I’ve had a crush on you since I knew what a crush was. And you’re Tony Stark, you’re hot and brilliant and a sex symbol. And you’re an amazing teacher and I’ve learned so much from you over the last month. And I see how you look at me, even if you hadn’t kissed me. I knew you wouldn’t say no,” Peter answered all in a rush. “I don’t regret it. I can’t even imagine how I could ever. It’s the most amazing first-time story there is. It’s so good no one would even believe me. Not that I’m going to tell anyone.”

Tony wasn’t sure what to think. Was Peter saying he wanted to sleep with him because he was Tony Stark™ or because he was his mentor? Was it so wrong if it was both? Tony wasn’t sure he cared what it was. If this was the only way he could have Peter, he would take it.

“I want it to keep happening,” Peter finished pleading his case.

“I don’t want this interfering with your training,” Tony said, shaking his head. “That’s why I didn’t kiss you again.”

“It won’t. I promise it won’t,” Peter said, his hopefulness coming back. Tony wished he could promise too but it was hard enough to focus on teaching Peter when he was trying not to think about his soft mouth. If he was given permission to have it whenever he wanted…

“Okay,” Tony said. “Then get over there and check your readings from the weekend.”

It was a strange feeling. Tony looked at Peter as the boy leaned over his work station and realized he could go over there and touch him and it would be okay. It was almost…uncomfortable. They both wanted it but neither wanted to make the first move. Tony gave in. 

Rough palms drifted to Peter’s hips under his shirt and Tony pressed his chest to his back. The boy dropped his pen and placed his hands on the table, his head tilting to the side as he leaned against Tony. Eager. It was clear that Peter had just been standing around waiting for this, not working.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter whispered, shivering when Tony kissed his neck.

“You know I really like the way you say that,” Tony said.

“That’s why I keep saying it.”

Tony turned Peter around and their lips met. He forced the kid to slow down, take his time, languidly explore the inside of his mouth, then welcome Peter to do the same back. By the time Tony’s hand pressed to the front of Peter’s jeans there was a wet spot on the front. 

\---

Tony replayed the footage. He knew all the angles of the lab’s cameras from the hours he’d spent watching them working together. Previously he had enjoyed picking out the subtle ways Peter would move towards him or touch his arm. Now he actually had something of a show to watch. After Tony had slipped under the table there was nothing really to see except Peter struggling to stay upright. The first part was pretty damning, the necking was intense, but at least TITLE had clear instructions to keep all surveillance feeds of him with Peter routed to Tony’s private servers and not to the monitoring system of the lab they were working in.

Peter had left that evening starry eyed and grinning dopily at Tony on his way out the door. Tony felt a rush of heat and affection at the sight of that blissful expression and smiled gently back. His StarkWatch vibrated.

_That was great. Really, really intense._

Tony picked up his phone and leaned back in his seat, propping his feet up on the worktop. They hadn’t texted or talked on the phone much but it was obvious Peter wanted to. Texting probably made it easier for the kid. A lot less eye contact and more time to think before speaking

_I’ve been wondering about that. Dialed up to eleven and all._

_Yea, it was really hard at first. When I first got my powers._

_For a while I was wearing the mask, it helped tone things down._

_Not, like, as a fetish or anything._

_You sure? Spandex is a pretty common fetish._

_Oh my god._

_I do not have a spandex fetish._

_It’s okay if you do._

_But I don’t!_

_I can make you a bedroom-only suit with a crotch zipper and everything._

There was a few times that Peter started to type, the little dots appearing, then going away, appearing again, stopping, going away. Finally the response came.

_Can you really?_

Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back. Peter was willing to experiment and Tony _was_ supposed to be his mentor, right? Tony smirked to himself because Peter was really, really hot in that suit, it would be kinky as hell if Peter really wanted one for the bedroom. He was already pulling up the original suit design and putting in a few alterations.

_Of course._

_Will you fuck me in it?_

_Definitely._

\---

“So what happened? Was it awkward?” Ned asked as soon as Peter picked up the phone.

“He blew me in the lab,” Peter said, more proud than embarrassed this time. 

“If you weren’t my best friend and I hadn’t seen you get picked up in mysterious black cars with drivers with code words, I would think you’re lying,” Ned said, awed. “And? Details! I’m living vicariously through you indefinitely.”

“It was so good. I can’t decide if I like it better than sex though. It’s a different kind of good,” Peter said. Tony was completely blindsided by the conversation but he’d also never had a best friend, not like the friendship Peter had with Ned. He’d never had a friend his own age when he was a teenager.

“Doesn’t he have, like, a beard?” Ned asked.

“Yea. It scratched a little, especially when he was going all the way down, but it’s a cool feeling.”

“Sounds like a really gay feeling. Beard on your balls.”

After Peter stopped laughing, “You’re not wrong though. Oh, May’s coming, I gotta go.”

Tony sighed. He couldn’t help the wire tapping. Listening to Peter talk about what they did was just as erotic as the act itself. Deepthroating the kid at the lab was a dream but hearing Peter brag about it to his little friend was a boost Tony desperately needed. 

\---

Peter was actually wearing the suit this time, the mouth part rolled up as he sat next to Ned on a roof. They were sharing a sandwich and a bag of churro bites and each boy had a milkshake. 

“So, did he screw you again yet?” Ned asked around his sub.

“No. But we did sixty nine, like, right in the boxing ring,” Peter said. “He said he loves how I taste so that seems to be his favorite thing.”

“Okay, that part was definitely TMI,” Ned cringed but he laughed. 

“It’s not as hard as I thought it would be. Like I needed to wear the mask before, to turn things down. Well I was practicing doing it without the mask,” Peter explained. Tony scoffed, no wonder he hadn’t been getting any nightly sessions, Peter had literally been “training” to hook up with him. He felt kind of flattered that Peter went through all this work when he could have literally asked Tony to pay him a million dollars to suck him off and Tony would have in a heartbeat. 

“I can’t believe you let me put that thing on when you’d jerked off in it,” Ned laughed.

“I didn’t jerk off ON it, you’ve touched my phone plenty and I’ve touched it way more times with my dick hand than that mask,” Peter argued. Tony actually did laugh out loud at that. Ned fake gagged. 

“Tony said he was going to make me a bedroom suit,” Peter said after they stopped chuckling. “Like, with zippers and stuff.”

“No fucking way,” Ned said, excitement in his tone. “Can I see it when you get it?”

“Duh. I want to ask Tony if we can take pictures when we fool around but I know he will say no,” Peter crunched a churro bite.

“Yea, child porn and all,” Ned said, distinctly disappointed, then, more hopeful, “What if he used his phone, didn’t you say it’s linked to his own personal satellite and servers?”

“Well yea but I figured that was for when he was flying around the world as Iron Man not, like, storing amateur-”

“Whoa, what about the Iron Man suit? Can he even get his dick out with it on?” Ned interrupted.

“Some of the suits are prehensile and split into separate parts but not all of them. So I guess it’s possible?” 

And it was a fantastic idea, Tony was considering mailing Ned a StarkPhone as a gift. Pepper wouldn’t have even considered such a thing but Peter was if the elevated heart rate said anything. 

“Hey, I gotta go, can you web me down?” 

“Yea, I’ll text you, it’s a Compound weekend so I’m trying to finish all my homework tonight,” Peter said. Tony cleared the feed.

\---

Pepper was in Tony’s personal lab when he got back to the Compound, making him step out of the Iron Man suit with a sigh. It had been a gym day and keeping his hands off Peter had been impossible. Seeing Pepper was a little shocking after feeling so good. Especially because of her face. Her mouth was set in that way it did when she was upset. Five partially finished bottles of alcohol sat on the desk.

“You said you were fine,” she said, her voice quiet and steady. Her “I’m very angry with you but also worried you’re dying” voice.

“I _am_ fine,” Tony said, handing his blazer to Dum-E who whirred and went away to spend the next 30 minutes putting it on a hanger.

“This isn’t fine. This is regression,” Pepper disagreed firmly. “This is-”

“If I wasn’t fine, you wouldn’t even see those, they’d be empty. I have a couple of drinks at night. I like to sit in my cars. Sue me.”

“But you know-”

“I know my limits, Pep!” Tony didn’t mean to get angry but she couldn’t just come in here and accuse him of falling off the wagon and not expect him to get shitty about it. “Unlike you. What are you _doing_ going through my cars?”

“I’m sorry,” Pepper said, standing and approaching him. He avoided her by walking around her to his desk, he smelled like sex and knew it, he didn’t want her close enough to catch it.

“You don’t get to play concerned girlfriend anymore,” Tony snapped. She looked hurt but he knew it wasn’t the girlfriend part.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize caring about you wasn’t allowed,” she said waspishly. “You’ve been acting weird, Tony, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

“So answering my emails, finishing projects ahead of timeline, and actually attending meetings is weird? I was under the impression that’s what you’ve been wanting from me for years.”

“Yes. Yes, actually, that _is_ weird!” Pepper said loudly to talk over him, “And your AI won’t speak to me.”

“The AI personalities weren’t working,” Tony said, his voice lowered. “I made a bare bones.”

Pepper was quiet for a moment, she’d relied heavily on JARVIS to watch over Tony. If anyone would understand how much he missed the AI, it was her. “Well I miss being able to check on you,” she said, “This started off wrong. Can we please talk?”

“Let’s go inside,” Tony suggested. Away from this place that was for Peter.

In the living room Tony poured them both a whiskey on the rocks and he sat across from her. He was eager to have a drink and maybe wash the lingering bitterness of semen off his breath. It was probably only noticeable to him because he’d had his nose buried in it but Pepper was sensitive to that sort of thing, always had been even before they’d been together. 

“It’s been a while since we’ve really talked. It’s mostly my fault, I’ve been so busy since the Southeastern Grocers acquisition,” Pepper said. Stark Industries foraying into the grocery business had caused controversy across the board with shouts of monopolizing and oligarchy. Tony had stayed out of it, that was so far from his interest level that he was trying to keep them from asking him to design shelf stocking robots. She sipped her drink and looked at him, he was looking at his phone. “So are you going to tell me how you’ve managed to turn things around?”

“I got an intern,” Tony said vaguely.

“An intern? I normally approve the executive interns,” she said, looking perplexed.

“He’s not an SI intern,” Tony said, then before should could get even more confused, “He’s an up-and-coming Avenger. More like a protege than an intern.”

“Oh,” Pepper said, looking into her glass then back at him. Tony could feel the waves of hurt, that she had tried to tame him for how many years and some “intern” came along and fixed the thing she never could, “Well good. I’m glad he’s helping. But, you know, he shouldn’t be handling any SI documents if-”

“He doesn’t.” Tony kept interrupting her but he was not interested in being told stuff he already knew. “He just has a strict training regimen around his classes and the scheduling is really helping. Keeps me on time.”

“Who knew that in order to get you to follow a schedule it had to be someone else’s,” Pepper laughed with a twinge of bitterness into her drink.

“Things have changed, Pepper,” Tony snapped. Who was she to come here and bitch at him for getting his life in order. “You should probably write him into my will because without him, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” 

Pepper chose to ignore that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony is a troubled character, I can't really apologize for that. Smut next! This chapter just got a little long so I split it.


	9. Part 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delays. I just moved and everything is chaos. Smut chapter! This one wasn't easy for some reason, that's why it's a little short.

Tony fired off a shot and Peter swore as his web disintegrated and he fell several feet before he twisted and fired another. That one also burst into flames. The web was not designed to resist the temperatures of a repulsor blast and Peter was still working out the kinks on the formula. He refused to let TITLE run simulations, insisting that he had to make it as if he didn’t have Tony Stark’s resources on hand because what if he didn’t? Tony didn’t bother to disagree. If Peter liked the challenge of doing it by hand, then that was fine.

“Oof!” the air rushed from Peter’s lungs when he hit the mat, Tony managing to force him down by blowing out every web he shot.

“Found your weakness, Parker, apparently ‘kill it with fire’ counts for all spiders,” Tony said with a tinny laugh. Peter shot a web at him and it exploded over the Iron Man’s mask and neck, locking up up and blocking half the visual sensors. Tony immediately flew backwards to put distance between them firing in the place Peter had last been. Not all of his sensors were under the web so he could see infrared but that was it, casting a crazy, horror flick feel to the fight. He flew up, firing at the outline of Spider-Man that swung around past him. A weight hit his left leg and he dropped back down, spinning and shooting, missing again and stumbling as a force struck his back. They hadn’t reinforced Peter’s suit yet so he discouraged the kid from putting any direct punches to the Iron Man to avoid any knuckle injuries but Peter was stubborn. Tony turned and found himself webbed again, his right arm trapped to the rest of the suit under several layers of webbing. His left arm, still free, fired.

“Ah!” Peter yelped, a direct hit. Tony tried to pry the webbing off unsuccessfully and when he turned back to Peter he found himself slamming into the far wall of the gym after he was drop-kicked.

“Shit,” Tony swore, his left arm webbed to the wall next. Peter swung and landed in front of him, looking pleased with himself until Tony blasted through the web and narrowly missed his head. Tony charged the repulsor and touched it to the web on his face, igniting it. For a moment Peter just stood there watching as the flames engulfed the Iron Man suit. He narrowly ducked another shot and webbed himself away. Then it was cat and mouse.

Tony gave chase easily until Peter held up both hands in a sign of defeat. “Stop, stop, okay,” Peter panted, “Can we go outside?”

“Sure, I’ll kick your ass with more room,” Tony said smugly. They headed out the wide doors to the compound exterior. This time there was a group of employees hanging around outside, not smoking but having a break, Tony insisted on those despite never taking them himself. They all turned with interest as Peter bounded out and webbed the nearest roof, Tony in hot pursuit.

It was clear Peter hadn’t anticipated the speed of the Iron Man suit because he barely managed to get out of the way. Peter could thrive in close quarters, he just didn’t know how, he was used to webbing languidly around the city. Tony really was designed for outdoor combat and his far greater experience showed. A week of nonstop training by a teenager, even an enhanced, wouldn’t come close. 

Tony did a lot of holding back, especially when he couldn’t use the force of his repulsors to his advantage. But Peter got mad after a few minutes that Tony was still going easy on him and maybe Tony went little harder. Any time he would have “won” he just gave Peter a shock. It was his version of a “checkmate” so Peter would know it would have been a finishing blow. By the time Peter collapsed on the grass to a series of boos and cheers of the onlookers, he was panting and shaking from exertion. It was the hardest training session they’d ever had.

“Had enough, kid?” Tony barked, grinning as the faceplate slid up. Peter took his mask off and waved it, like a flag. When the kid sat up his hair was literally on end from all the shocks he’d gotten.

This training would be easier if the team was still there. Natasha could get Peter trained to use that amazing flexibility of his. Steve could teach him how to use his strength. Tony’s smile faded. He couldn’t do this alone. He sighed as he walked over to Peter and offered his hand to him. “Hit the showers, kid,” he said when he tugged Peter to his feet.

“Are you…?” Peter whispered it.

“Yea. TITLE will let you up,” Tony said, motioning. He watched Peter run off towards the Avengers building and sighed again, lowering the faceplate, waving to the people who’d been watching. He left the suit inside the training facility, which walked to a docking station and powered down. The elevator was cool and the floors flew by soundlessly. Tony shivered, chilled from the sweat and the anticipation of Peter waiting for him upstairs.

\---

Peter left the Spider-Man suit draped over the back of a chair, the shower was already running in the massive ensuite bathroom. Tony pulled his t shirt off, dropping it and his sweats off in the hamper on his way in. 

“Hey, Mr. Stark?” Peter called, obviously having heard him. Tony looked at him through the glass wall of the shower. “Why did you name your new AI ‘TITLE’ it seems kind of...less fun than FRIDAY.” 

“It stands for ‘This Is The Last Endeavour’ because I don’t have it in me to program another AI after this,” Tony answered, shocking himself at his honesty. He slipped into the shower, Peter already washing his hair. The boy turned to him completely, a mixture of nervousness and excitement on his face as soap ran down from his temple. Tony could tell his attention was shifted to one thing. The question and its disappointing answer was forgotten.

“I’ve never showered with someone else before,” Peter said.

“Gonna let me wash you?” Tony asked with a half a smile.

“I already soaped up and stuff.”

“Doesn’t matter, I just want to touch you.”

“Oh. Okay, sure.” 

Tony drank in the view. He’d yet to see Peter naked in person; when he made it to Peter’s warm brown eyes and noticed them roving over his own body he realized Peter hadn’t seen him naked either. Tony took the expensive soap from the shelf and lathered it between his palms.

Peter’s skin was smooth and pale, the boy’s face naturally tilting up to meet his own for a kiss when he was close enough. “That feels really good,” Peter whispered. “Are you...can we…” He broke off with a moan when Tony rubbed firm circles into the tops of his ass cheeks. “Oh my god. I didn’t know that could feel so amazing.” 

“How about we wash up and I give you a full body massage in bed,” Tony suggested. Peter, already flushed, nodded and stole another kiss.

Kissing was something Peter rapidly got better at, like he did with fighting. Another skill he’d picked up from making out and from training was reading Tony’s body language. He quickly caught on to when Tony wanted to dominate his mouth or when he was letting Peter explore on his own. At the moment it was a little of both. 

Peter pulled away first to take the body wash and hesitate before he started to wash Tony in return. Each pass of his hands felt as if Peter was brushing away all the stress of the week before. Any time they weren’t together Tony was worrying about Peter. He wished not for the first time he was just old enough to move to the Compound.

Peter grew more bold the longer they were in the shower, his exploration more thorough. His hands were smooth and rather delicate though Tony knew how strong they could be. His fingers dipped into the curves of Tony’s chest and abdomen, remaining in ‘safe’ places at first until Tony guided them elsewhere. Peter blushed from his cheeks to his chest but he didn’t stop when Tony let go of his wrists. Instead he continued to feel between Tony’s thighs, around to his ass, sliding tentatively along the crease. Tony chuckled and kissed Peter again while they rinsed off. 

“You’re gonna top sometime soon right?” Tony asked, making Peter’s grip on him tighten. 

“You’d let me?” Peter asked, not trying to play cool. He sounded genuine and excited. This level of trust felt like a reward.

“Who wouldn’t want an Adonis like you to fuck them?” Tony teased, though the compliment was sincere. 

“I just didn’t know i-if you, uh, switch,” Peter looked like he wasn’t even sure he was using the right word, “I want you to top a few more times first. So I get the hang of what to do, you know?” Peter said, his tone surprisingly solemn. Tony chuckled and kissed away his slight frown.

“That sounds fair, but you and I both know you learn best by doing trying it yourself.” A statement that earned Tony the most endearing nervous laugh.

They made their way from the shower to the bed with humid skin and erections that pressed together between their firm abdomens. Peter pulled Tony on top of him, eager and trembling beneath him. This felt more like Peter’s first time than what happened in the car. The teen was all big brown eyes and fluttering pulse, his damp hair soaking into the pillowcase. Their first time together in a bed and Tony was desperate to be good. He’d never been worried about his performance a day in his life. Everything was different with Peter, something he was reminded of constantly. 

The bed linens were heavy and oppressive but Peter tugged them up over Tony’s shoulders, perhaps feeling safer when caged in on all sides. He dragged his hands down Tony’s back and slid his right leg up his side, breathing out harshly when Tony met the motion with a thrust of his hips. 

“I’ve been thinking about this pretty much nonstop since the first time,” Peter whispered. 

Tony had only gotten tunnel vision a few times in his life but this was as if all five senses had honed in to Peter and nothing else. The words were like a drug, coursing through him and making him lightheaded. He kissed Peter again, licking into his mouth greedily as he brought his fingers between the boy’s legs. 

Like the first time, Peter only allowed him a few moments of prep before he shook his head, claiming discomfort. Tony tried to talk him into letting him do it longer but Peter wasn’t having it. 

“Please, I can take it,” Peter insisted. His cock had leaked all over his hip and Tony groaned when Peter reached between them and stroked him. Luckily Tony had the sense to jerk off before Peter got out to the Compound earlier for training so he wasn’t as pent up as before but no video feed could compare to having this. 

Tony slicked himself up, wiping the excess lube onto Peter’s entrance, but knowing he was going to need more. The way his young lover tossed his head back at the first press of his thick cock was something that he wanted to immortalize in bronze. 

“It’s okay, be as loud as you want,” Tony said, his hand cupping Peter’s jaw as he slid inside inch by inch. Peter stopped biting his lip and squeezed his eyes closed as he let out a soft, ‘ahh’ of pain. Tony got halfway in before he pulled back and added more lube. Peter grabbed him though, not letting him stay away for more than a moment.

“Oh, that’s better,” Peter whispered as Tony eased back inside. Peter gripped Tony’s hips with his knees, his fingers digging into the older man’s deltoids hard enough it was likely going to bruise. Tony didn’t mind. 

The first thrusts were shallow and slow, easing into a rhythm. Tony allowed himself to be engulfed by Peter, cupping the boy’s face, burying his nose into the opposite side of his neck and breathing him in as his body moved on instinct. Peter’s thighs trembled where they held onto Tony’s torso and a soft stream of moans escaped him. 

“Oh my god, I’m gonna...please, I don’t wanna finish so soon,” Peter whined. Tony kissed away the words, holding himself on one elbow to have Peter look him in the eyes.

“I’ll make you cum again,” Tony promised, and that did it. Peter went silent through it, letting it wash over him as he unloaded between them, completely untouched. If ever “starry eyed” could be used to describe Peter, this was the moment. The way he looked at Tony, like he was incredible, like he couldn’t understand this was happening _to him_ and he couldn’t believe it would happen again.

“Oh, oh, don’t stop,” Peter complained, contradicting what he’d said earlier. 

“Just switching positions,” Tony reassured. He pulled out and lay one of Peter’s legs down, straddling it as he lifted the other over his shoulder. 

“Oh my god,” Peter gasped. Tony was so focused on Peter he didn’t even think about his own pleasure. Yes, it felt incredible, but his desire to make Peter forget his own name was greater. 

Peter’s erection never flagged, it bobbed pretty and pink as Tony rode the teenager’s firm thigh. The new angle was relentless, making Peter’s quiet moans pick up in volume. “Mr. Stark, oh, g-go harder,” he said between gasps. 

Tony didn’t need asked twice but he only managed a few moments before Peter changed his tune, slapping Tony’s thigh with a sob. Tony stopped and Peter slid his leg out from between Tony’s, wrapping them around his waist again. 

“Can I go harder now?” Tony teased. Peter kissed him, one hand clutching Tony’s hair, the other arm hooked around Tony’s back, digging his blunt fingernails in harshly. The boy clung to him desperately, panting hotly into his ear, turning his head and biting the side of Tony’s neck in exactly the spot that made Tony’s whole body light up. He groaned and each thrust pulled a cry from Peter until (finally) the young man was climaxing again, loudly this time. It was more than enough to drag Tony over the edge with him, burying himself deeply and stuttering there as his dick throbbed. Peter’s eyes were closed and he still gripped Tony tightly.

The time they spent connected afterwards was something Tony wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced before and knew he’d never get again. 

Tony pulled away, sweaty, sticky, and sated, and lay gingerly beside Peter, whose eyes were still closed as he trembled. He turned towards Tony and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face against his chest, the pressure on the scar and fake skin making the older man’s breathing catch. It definitely wasn’t the surge of deep, warm affection he felt that made his heart skip a beat. He kissed the top of Peter’s head and basked. Every time his hands touched Peter’s skin he felt that maybe he was just trapped in a dream and none of this was real. The little twinges of pain from the bruises Peter left behind reminded him that it was.

“Mr. Stark…wow,” Peter whispered.

“Was that what you expected it to be like?” Tony asked, feigning confidence but truly wondering.

“It was way more than I expected it to be. That was…that was,” Peter said, talking into Tony’s right pec. “That was incredible. I…you made me _cry_.”

“Looked like a good cry though,” Tony offered, petting the boy’s hair.

“It was a really good cry. Really good.”

“Too much?”

Peter was quiet for a moment.

“Be honest. I won’t know if you don’t tell me.”

“A little. I really liked it, but, you said it. Dialed up to eleven.”

“We can try some sensory deprivation next time. That helps right?”

“Uh, like…what do you do?”

“Just a cloth blindfold. It’ll cover your ears and let you relax your eyes. Very soft,” Tony offered, running his fingers along Peter’s forehead and down his face to his jaw. Peter practically purred into it and nodded.

“Yea, okay, that sounds perfect,” Peter agreed tiredly, turning and pressing himself against Tony. The kid made a perfect little spoon. 

\---

Morning and Peter was already on the phone. Tony stood in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in hand, listening and for once doing so without any particular invasion of privacy. The kid was eating an impressively large omelet that Vision had made him, cutting it with his fork and stuffing a bite into his mouth as he yammered on about how great the training session was yesterday.

“We’re going out to do some environmental training today,” he was saying, “Like, slinging webs from trees and stuff. He didn’t tell me exactly but I think he’s bringing the Iron Legion along. No, we’ve only done one-on-one before this.” He gave a snort. “That was a terrible joke.” Tony could practically hear Ned’s sharp wit making a crack about their other ‘one-on-one’ they did.

“Shhh, oh my god,” Peter practically giggled. “But yea, we did. _Amazing._ Like, way better than the first time. I’m definitely more sore today though because it lasted a lot longer.” He was clearly confident that he was being vague enough that if someone was listening they might not know what he was talking about. Vision would. There was no doubt that Vision had heard them, Peter had been far from quiet. But Vision had left the compound after making Peter breakfast, leaving a message with TITLE that he would be off hiking for a few days. He said nature often made him feel at peace, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Tony took his coffee and headed into the dining room.

“Morning champ,” he greeted loudly, making Peter start. Apparently having super senses didn’t matter if you were a distracted teenager talking about sex.

“Oh, hi, good morning, uh, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, jerking his headphones out of his ears.

“You know, I don’t need all of your attention every time I’m in the room. You’re allowed to talk on the phone in my presence, you won’t offend,” Tony said, amused.

“Oh, we were done talking, it’s not a big deal,” Peter said as he fumbled his phone out of his pocket to end the call.

“Look, it’s okay you talk to your friend about us,” Tony said. Peter flushed and looked down at his half-finished omelet, like he was in trouble. “I’m serious. I’d rather you be open with me about who you tell. For my safety as well as yours. Have you told anyone else?”

“No, no, just Ned,” Peter said immediately. Then a little softer, “Have you, uh, told anyone?” 

“It’s a little different for me,” Tony said, then had a deep draw off his coffee. Peter fought confusion and hurt off his face as he cut another piece of omelet. “I’m not ashamed of you, if that’s what that thing you did with your face just meant. I mean there’s a higher risk for me here.” Peter didn’t look happy with that response so Tony added, softly, “I have no one to tell anyway.”

“What about...Colonel Rhodes?” Peter asked because he obviously had meant to say any number of other names and realized all of them were scratched off the list.

“He’s never been interested in my sex life,” Tony shrugged. He finished his coffee and put the mug aside. “You eating that?” Peter shook his head and went to set his fork down but Tony leaned over and motioned, “Just a bite, let me see if I even want it.” The teenager, smiling again, brought the fork up to Tony’s mouth and fed him the bite on it, watching him eat it with a sparkly look of wonder in his eyes. He laughed when Tony made a pleased noise and slid the plate over.

“Vision’s not here,” Tony said conversationally. “He went hiking.”

“Oh, I didn’t really think about him, like, going places,” Peter said, his interest genuine as ever. “Does he like-”

“Yea so we’re all alone. In this big Compound. Just me and you,” Tony interrupted. Peter caught on and tugged at the hem of his shirt, a mischievous smile crossing his face. Finally, a little of the boldness from the first night coming back.

“Do you wanna- like, in here?” Peter asked, leaving out the words in the middle.

“You’re gonna have to ask a little nicer than that,” Tony teased. He finished off the omelet and stood, taking the plate to the kitchen where he rinsed it and his coffee mug. Peter followed him, of course.

“Would you please fuck me in the dining room, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked obediently. 

“You’re not too sore?” Tony pressed.

“No, sir, I can take it,” Peter’s overly polite responses were cute. It leaned towards a section of kink they’d not reached yet. Peter was young and inexperienced but that didn’t mean he was ignorant. Obviously he’d been watching porn, talking to his friends about it, thinking about it. Probably had plenty of things he wanted to explore.

Tony had his doubts about Peter being ready for another round because he was feeling sore himself. The hard work out the day before followed by Peter’s enhanced strength digging into his back and arms had him feeling sluggish. 

Peter, feeling more bold, took Tony by the hand and lead him back into the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More uncomfortable conversations are on the horizon, Vision is naïve but he's not ignorant.


	10. Part 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm nervous of this chapter. Go easy on me. It's heavy on the dialogue.

“Tony,” Vision said, entering the lab and standing near the door. He was wearing a grey sweater vest over a blue button down, which clashed with that ever so interesting purple hue of his skin but Tony had given up offering fashion advice ages ago. 

Tony tapped away at his email, but motioned with his head. It was easier to be around Vision since Peter became such an active role in his life. A lot of things were easier now that he had Peter. How could he look at Vision and feel desperately alone anymore when he wasn’t?

“What’s up?” he prompted since Vision didn’t start speaking right away. Vision came in and sat at the workbench opposite Tony. He folded his hands on the table and opened his mouth, then closed it a few times. 

“I am not human,” Vision opened with, “And there are many functions about you that I do not understand and can never hope to. I understand the concept and the ideas but often times the function is lost to me.” Tony glanced at him, pretty sure he knew where this was going but at the same time, interested in Vision’s perspective. Vision didn’t seem to know where to go from here since Tony hadn’t snarked him or told him to leave. 

“This is about Peter,” Tony supplied, trying to help move this along. 

“Yes, thank you,” Vision said, his expression becoming less tight.

“And it is about you.” Tony stopped working and looked at Vision, probably one of the first times he’d given the android his full attention. “I understand the concept of sex as a recreational activity shared between two people who find each other appealing in one way or another. I cannot experience it, or any equivalent of it, myself, therefore my opinion is that of a spectator.” Tony tried not to find that verbiage too cringe inducing, Vision didn’t literally mean watching them.

“I have come to understand that in the state of New York, Peter is not considered old enough to partake in sex,” Vision continued. Tony rubbed at his neck and considered a reply but the android rolled on, “I have also learned from everything we have seen and been through together, that no humans are the same and laws that may dictate to one perhaps do not make sense to another. 

“Your government deemed it acceptable for Peter, at an even younger age, to risk his life to stop Captain Rogers but would say the same young man is not capable of consenting to a physical relationship with you, despite your role as a trusted and admired mentor to him,” Vision finished. He seemed quite pleased with himself. Tony didn’t bother to point out his role of power actually made consent even less viable. He knew nothing about the relationship was forced, but from outside eyes, few would agree.

“Wow, Vis, that’s…I appreciate the sentiment and all but…why are we talking about this?” Tony asked, distinctly uncomfortable. 

“I know you find my presence painful. I have tried to alleviate this as much as possible, but it seems that the only thing that has changed this is Peter,” Vision’s gaze was always disconcerting but Tony didn’t break the eye contact this time. “I want you to know that I care for you, Tony, in the best way that I can. Peter has, in every way that I can observe, helped you immensely.

“What I mean to say is I do not want you to stifle your relationship with him while you are here. This is your home, Tony, and you are the only family that I have,” Vision’s voice was surprisingly capable of expressing emotion, even with the most subtle changes and it made Tony’s heart ache for the android and the way he had been treating him, “I want you to feel safe and happy here. I leave often to give you space but I would much prefer it if we could, perhaps, become friends. I believe Peter will be a welcome buffer.

“You are comfortable with him nearby, you find joy in his physical presence. I cannot rightfully judge you or him on the basis of human laws, not when I can see before me a situation where no one is being hurt. Not only that, but if we went by human standards, I would be barely more than a toddler,” Vision said. This was probably the most Tony had ever heard him say in one sitting and frankly it was a lot to take in.

“Peter speaks very highly of you, he greatly admires you as his mentor and as a man. And in turn, training him has improved your physical and emotional wellbeing in ways I did not believe possible. I was truly afraid I would lose you too, after the Captain and the others left. Though I feel Peter has much to learn, I cannot say that I feel your sexual interactions are negatively impacting him or his life.” Vision finished. Tony was floored. He had Vision’s blessing and wasn’t even sure what to do with it. Sure, he’d silently known that Vision heard but he’d not put much more thought into it. He hadn’t even considered that Vision had spent time thinking about it. He hadn’t considered Vision cared about Tony at all, let alone enough to warrant this short speech. It was touching but also painful because Tony hadn’t given a single fuck with Vision thought of him, meanwhile everything Vision did was to try to make Tony happy. He didn’t deserve people like this in his life, and yet...

“Oh. Thanks,” Tony said lowly. “No one else is going to agree with this sentiment, you know that right?”

“As they say, no one else needs to know. I will not speak of it and if for whatever reason, I am asked, I will deny it,” Vision said simply. At that he stood and left the lab.

\---

_Vision knows._

_Oh._

_He says we don’t have to hide it around him._

_Oh. Wow._

_My thoughts exactly._

_That would be awkward though._

_My thoughts exactly._

_Lol!_

Tony set his phone aside and clued back into the meeting he was at. He was in Canada. As much as he didn’t like leaving Peter for long, the boy had progressed enough in their training that he was capable of practicing with just the Iron Legion. He was also well liked by the staff at the lab and they actively pursued him on projects to keep him engaged. 

In order to keep his hands to himself and subsequently keep Peter’s training on schedule, Tony had hired a martial arts instructor for one day a week instead of making the trip to the city himself. He typically only trained Peter two days a week unless it was a Compound weekend. Hands-off was going well. The distance ensured a constant desire to see each other and ensured they didn’t get too serious or worse, bored.

As summer approached, Tony was already in the process of rewriting Peter’s entire curriculum. He scheduled time with the little friend, Ned, out at the Compound, which he hadn’t told Peter yet and planned to make a surprise. But mostly he buckled down on studying and publication. The goal was for Peter to form, test, and publish a thesis by the start of the new school year. Tony even went so far as to put time blocks for him to assist with summer assignments from the high school to get them out of the way faster. 

Tony pulled up his lesson plans and tinkered with it for a while before he picked his phone back up.

_Send a picture, I miss your face._

_I miss your face too._

The accompanying photo was with a dog filter, Peter frowning dramatically in class. Tony sent one back, his expression somewhere between disappointed and disgusted.

_I knew you were a slut, but dog-filter slut? I think we need to call this off._

_LOL. Oh my god._

_When will you be back? I’m so horny._

_You are so needy. I love it._

_Friday. Did you want to move your weekend up?_

_I can’t, I have a big final project to finish with Ned._

Tony considered this. Bringing Ned to the compound was supposed to be a surprise but he could swing it- No, Peter needed to stick to his schedule.

_Maybe I could drop by._

_Like...to Ned’s place?_

_Sure._

_He would shit._

_But his place is pretty big and his room is in the basement, his parents wouldn’t even notice after they went to bed._

_Just tell me time and place._

\---

“Holy shit,” Ned breathed. Tony didn’t need a chubby, awe struck Filipino boy standing in his way to feel any more weird about what he was doing but it was happening anyway. 

“Shh, Ned, move,” Peter whispered, tugging Ned out of the way. Tony stepped inside, relieved that Peter had moved on from that stage of glassy-eyed wonder a long time ago. He followed the pair through a neat kitchen and down a set of stairs, Peter locking the basement door behind them. 

The house was nice, upper middle class, in a quiet neighborhood, not a bad place. It was easy enough to hide his car on another street and he was the only pedestrian out after midnight. It was the type of place he might have blacked out at during a shitty college party while in his MIT years. Instead he was meeting his 16 year old lover and said lover’s rotund, fanboy best friend.

“Can I just say that it is an honor to meet you?” Ned said once they were downstairs. Tony offered his hand to at least be polite. Ned shook it eagerly. “Wow, it’s like two for one, you’re, like, _you_ , and you’re also my best friend’s sugar daddy-”

“Ned!” Peter hissed, looking mortified.

“Boyfriend?”

“Ned.”

“Heard a lot about you, impressed with your work disabling the tracker on the suit, you must be pretty bright yourself,” Tony said, desperate to get away from all these scary words (daddy and boyfriend, Tony got nervous jitters thinking about either one.)

That divulged into an hour long discussion about protocols and firewalls that had Peter bored within ten minutes. Peter was more in biochem. But he seemed to feel brave and after getting himself a soda, settled on the couch next to Tony, leaning into his side when Tony’s arm naturally fell over his shoulders. It would take a blind man not to see the noted way Ned grinned at Peter when he did.

Eventually Ned put on Die Hard after a particularly dated reference Tony made about a style of hacking being similar to infiltrating the Nakatomi building. The kid was asleep within twenty minutes. Tony and Peter, who were sitting on the couch near the bed, continued watching without him. 

A slender hand went into Tony’s lap, sliding along the crease of his thigh before pressing palm down over his groin. He glanced at Ned, who was snoring softly, then turned to Peter and kissed him. It had been over a full week since Tony had seen Peter, being out of the country and all, so it was filled with pent up desire.

“I prepped in the bathroom before you got here,” Peter whispered. “Let’s do it here.”

“With your friend right there?” Tony asked with a hint of disbelief. He’d had sex in way worse places but had he really? Could there be a worse place to fuck a 16 year old than next to another, sleeping, 16 year old in a basement in the suburbs?

“Yea. It’s kind of hot...y’know, the risk he’ll wake up,” Peter said, grinning. 

“You know, I’m drawing a line,” Tony laughed. He stood up and tugged Peter, who was stifling a laugh of his own. At the door, Peter resisted, just a flash of his superior strength that made Tony look back at him. 

Peter looked absolutely stunning and for a moment it shook Tony. The basement was dark aside from the flickering light of the movie, casting shadows on the teenager’s handsome face. His well defined jaw, the line of his Adam’s apple, the unstyled hair that had fallen across his smooth forehead. Time and the world had yet to ravage Peter. Tony wondered not for the first time what this beautiful youth could see in someone so many years his senior. What could he see in a broken old man?

“You’re gorgeous,” Tony said, a soft, sincere statement that made Peter visibly melt towards him. Their lips met. Theirs was not much of a love story but the way Tony felt in that moment was whole and real. The spot in his chest where the reactor had once been didn’t feel so dead when Peter’s palm rested over it.

Tony supposed it was only a teenager who could make a laundry room seem romantic. Something about the youthful struggle to find privacy made their time together more concentrated and potent. 

Peter lead the way in and slid the pocket door gently closed behind them, throwing them into absolute darkness as he locked the weak latch. It wouldn’t stop someone who wanted in but it would at least warn them of an interruption. Tony’s watch slowly glowed faintly blue, lighting up Peter’s back as the boy undressed, placing his clothes on the washer. The older man didn’t hesitate to follow suit and pull Peter back into his arms. 

“This is your field, you tell me how we play,” Tony murmured. He sucked lightly on Peter’s earlobe, his erection pressing against the boy’s perfect ass. 

“Against the wall?” Peter requested, turning in Tony’s arms and offering him one of his little black lube bottles (how many had Peter swiped?) Something about whispering naked in a space that smelled like Gain and was not much bigger than a closet was really setting the mood.

“Mm, sounds delicious,” Tony agreed but when he tried to lift and turn Peter, the teenager resisted.

“Not me,” Peter said, mischief in his tone. Tony, intrigued, leaned back and in the darkness, Peter moved. He placed his feet firmly against the wall on either side of Tony and he understood.

“Oh, Asian cowboy, but with Spider-Man flair. I love a little creativity,” Tony said, genuinely impressed. Peter, now totally just showing off, let go of Tony, remaining in his wall-climbing squat, and used both hands to lube up Tony’s cock. 

“Well, we’ve been fairly vanilla,” Peter said, which, okay, Tony disagreed but was in no position to vocalize that. “This is our double digits.”

“Our what?” Tony asked because he was still trying to recover from the ego blow that Peter thought sex that left HIM sore for days was “vanilla.” 

“Our tenth time. We’ve hit double digits,” Peter explained. Tony’s heart clenched again. It seemed like as soon as he could forget for a moment just how bad he had it, Peter reminded him that he was wonderful and beautiful and-

Peter sank down on Tony’s cock and Tony’s brain ceased higher function. His hands were free to explore Peter’s body, which was hard with cords of muscle in this position. It also let him pay full and undivided attention to Peter’s pretty erection. Sweat shined on Peter’s forehead already, his thrusts were unsteady at first until Tony stopped stroking him long enough to guide him.

“There’s my boy,” Tony murmured, “No rush. There’s time for hard-and-fast once you start to hate me.” Peter let out a snort and leaned in, wrapping his arm around Tony’s neck and kissing him. It was a different kind of kiss, long, deep, and thorough, the kind that Tony would start in order to get Peter in the mood. 

“I could never hate you,” Peter whispered. Tony believed him.

Tony wrapped his arms around Peter’s waist and gently pulled him closer, stopping his movements. “I hate to go vanilla on you,” he said, but Peter hurriedly shook his head into the crook of Tony’s neck. His legs lowered then went around Tony’s wait and when Tony turned them, he let out a long, pleasured sigh. 

“I didn’t mean I don’t like it,” Peter whispered. Tony thrust into him hard and deep, but not fast, letting gravity pull Peter down against him. “I thought maybe you’d get bored.”

“Take that back,” Tony hissed, earning a light laugh from Peter. 

\---

Something about the night at Ned’s house seemed to have changed the dynamic. The next day at training, Peter looked at Tony like he did a particularly fascinating and unexpected lab result, like he was logging every detail and trying to figure out just how it worked. Well until Tony laid him out on his back with a leg sweep.

“That never works on you, get your head in the game,” Tony teased. Peter, flushed and laughing, turned over as if getting up, but instead grabbed Tony’s ankle and yanked his leg clean from under him. He hit the mat, the air whooshing from his lungs. Peter was straddling him before he could even blink. Tony’s hands naturally fell to the boy’s hips. Their previous romps at the private workout room had been more along the lines of over-excited fumbling, this one felt far more comfortable. The young man gazed down at Tony with warmth and affection on his face and not for the first time Tony praised the way Peter wore his heart on his sleeve. There was never a guess or a lie with Peter.

Tony looked back. Peter was wearing a tank top, which clung to his chest from the sweat, and a pair of impossibly tight capri-length yoga pants. They had some proper name but considering Tony ever saw yogis wearing them, they were yoga pants to him. Peter had been firm and defined before but since their intensive training started, he had not only gotten cut, but had also gained mass. The personal trainer that Tony had set up for Peter mentioned a nutrition lesson but Tony had assumed it would go in one ear and out the other. It was clear he’d been doing _something_ to help out all that new muscle. 

“Miss Potts requests to stop by,” TITLE interrupted flatly from Tony’s watch. Peter smirked and leaned down, kissing Tony with plenty of tongue before he got up. Tony, feeling breathless and distinctly turned on, lay there on the mat for a moment longer.

“Send her the address and the code to get in,” he muttered into his wrist. Then to Peter, “That was unfair.”

“Like you fight fair,” Peter said, offering a hand for Tony. “Anything I need to know before meeting the CEO of Stark Industries and your ex-girlfriend?”

“You sound pretty confident already,” Tony replied, a warm sense of pride filling him. Peter had grown a lot in their time together. Tony could still make him nervous but it was a good nervous. More often than not, Peter initiated things or they naturally came together as equals. Talking to strangers came easier to Peter, probably from all the rotating scientists he met at the satellite lab. He was confident in his body and slip ups during training were fewer and fewer. If ever was a time to meet Pepper, it was now.

Tony goosed Peter as the kid headed for the gymnasts rings. The gym wasn’t huge, the center was a sparring mat, with a selection of free weights along one wall, the other side having gymnastics equipment for Peter’s flippy-bendy nonsense and some punching bags. Three of the walls were mirrors. There was a small private bathroom attached. Tony had gotten Peter naked on most of it.

The door pinged a few minutes later and unlocked, letting in one Pepper Potts. She was dressed in a charcoal pant suit, and she mercifully took her heels off by the door to keep from puncturing the floors. Peter caught Tony’s eye in the mirror, then dropped down from the rings, bouncing slightly on the landing.

“Pep, this is Peter, my protégé, and the future of the Avengers,” Tony introduced. Peter wiped his hands of dust and offered one out to her. Tony tried not to stare at the way his arms and shoulders flexed, pumped with blood from his intense upper body workout he had been doing on the rings. Pepper looked too, making that buzz of pride grow louder.

“Pepper Potts, a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you from Tony,” Pepper said. Peter immediately blushed and grinned at Tony. 

“Really? Wow,” Peter said, “I’d say the same but I hear wonderful things about you from everywhere, not just Mr. Stark.” Tony’s brows went up and Pepper gave a flattered laugh.

“Well, he must be teaching you how to lay the charm on too,” Pepper said playfully. Peter looked a little bashful at that but not at all cowed. “You looked pretty comfortable up there, is training going well?”

Peter’s smile was brilliant and easy. Tony hadn’t realized that meeting Pepper was something he’d been worried about until he was in this moment and everything was fine. Like, it was actually okay. She wasn’t being passive aggressive or bitter towards him. She wasn’t making those salty comments she was so good at.

“Definitely,” Peter replied, “I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity Mr. Stark has given me. This really is a huge improvement from where I was this time last year. It really feels like every day I learn more and have more to offer in return.”

Tony wondered if Peter had rehearsed that response but it wouldn’t matter anyway because Pepper was eating it up. She loved positivity and especially loved young people. Peter had her wrapped around his finger and he had no idea. This clash of Tony’s worlds was like a tie-dye, swirling and beautiful. He couldn’t stop watching them.

“That’s wonderful,” Pepper said, “I would love to stay and chat more but I was just dropping by to put a face to a name. But if you’d let me to treat you to lunch sometime this week, I’d like to get to know you a little better.”

“Oh, yea, definitely, I’m off for lunch from 11:30 until 12:30,” Peter replied. “Any day is fine.”

“I’ll have TITLE send you an invite,” Pepper promised. She met Tony’s eyes and they turned together to go back to where she took off her shoes. “I’m impressed, Tony. He actually seems like a really good kid.” Tony looked at her, searching for dishonesty.

“You didn’t seem all that keen on him last time we talked about him,” he pointed out.

“Well I’ve thought about it and you’re right. Things change, people change, _you’ve_ changed. This is great progress you’ve made and I’m happy with how far you’ve come. We were all worried about you after Steve left, I know you don’t want to hear it, but Happy, Rhodey, and Vision all came and talked about it to me. This,” Pepper looked over at where Peter had gotten back on the rings, “This is completely not what we expected. I’m happy for you, even if he seems young to be part of your world, you’re right to take him in. You’re doing everything right.” There was a silent “for once” at the end and Tony decided to ignore it. 

\---

Tony sat at his desk, listening. TITLE had the audio on Peter’s phone streaming to his work station. Peter was right on time to the restaurant that Pepper had reserved a table at and there was a steady, background noise of traffic, implying they were sitting outside. A chair scraped much closer to Peter.

“Peter, great to see you again,” Pepper said. She must have stood to greet him. Two chairs scraped and they both sat. “You’re sure you won’t be late getting to your next class?”

“No, I definitely will be, but I finished my term paper like two weeks ago with Mr. Stark and that’s all we’ve been doing in class this week, so, it’s fine,” Peter answered.

“Please tell me Tony isn’t helping you cheat on your assignments,” Pepper said, somewhere between amused and exasperated.

“No way! It’s just a lot easier to have TITLE helping. He does the tedious stuff, like build the bibliography and insert my citations. Mr. Stark says I’ll always have these tools when I’m working on published works so he doesn’t see a point in not using them now.”

“That’s a fair point. Have you published yet?”

“No, but the summer curriculum with Mr. Stark has me publishing by September. I’ve narrowed my topics down to five or so, I’m going to run them by him today at the lab.”

“You have a curriculum?”

“Yea, he’s really meticulous about this stuff,” Peter said and there was rustling, no doubt he was getting the printed version out.

“I’m really…impressed,” Pepper said, sounding confused because Tony was anything but meticulous about planning, “Are you doing anything fun this summer? This seems like a lot of work.”

“Oh, yea, the calendar is on the back,” Peter explained. The paper flipped. “See the green dates are my free days. The blue dates are travel dates. He hasn’t told me where we’re going yet, but he implied we’d be going to Japan at least once. I’ve always wanted to go.” Tony had scheduled them just under three weeks of travel. The “free” days were open to Peter being at the compound if he wanted, however due to the fact that May Parker had needed to sign off on it, he hadn’t written that in exclusively. She had expressed concern that he would be working too much and needed time to be a teenager. Tony agreed.

“Have you ever been abroad?” Pepper asked, handing the paper back.

They were interrupted by the waiter, who took their orders.

“Anyway, no I haven’t been out of the country before. Mr. Stark just helped me get my passport the other day,” Peter said.

“Your parents must be very proud of you.”

“Oh, I was raised by my aunt and uncle, but my uncle passed away last year. It was right when I got my powers, so, was sort of a really hard time,” Peter explained. Tony never asked about it because he wasn’t very good at comforting people, at least Peter seemed fairly open to talking about it. “Mr. Stark has really…I couldn’t imagine trying to do this by myself again. I did for six months but…” he paused for a moment before he continued, “My aunt doesn’t know about me, after losing Ben…she can’t really take that sort of stress. Pretty much just you, Mr. Stark, Vision, and Mr. Happy know. And my friend Ned.”

“It’s a big secret to have, especially so young. I’m so sorry about your uncle.”

“He’d be proud of me if he were here. I can at least know that.” It sounded like their food arrived and Tony thought about cutting the feed but he wasn’t really doing anything else. It played. They chatted about less interesting things for a while. Peter asked Pepper a bunch of questions about Stark Industries, about the September Foundation, etc. 

“Peter,” Pepper said and Tony’s heart leapt. He knew that tone. 

“Yes, Miss Potts?” Peter said, dutiful, attentive.

“You’re doing a great job. I don’t think you understand how much you’ve helped Tony.”

“I...you think so?” 

“Absolutely. It’s not my place to talk about it, but I want you to know.”

“Sometimes I feel like,” Peter hesitated. Pepper must have done something to encourage him because he continued, “I feel like I’m just some stupid kid. It’s not anything he does, just whenever he beats me in training or when I need him to explain some equation he did in his head, I feel like I’ll never be able to catch up. I worry I’m not doing as well as I could be or that I’m a burden that he’s stuck with.”

“You’re not. If he didn’t want to be doing this, he wouldn’t. That’s one thing you can count on Tony for. He doesn’t do things when he doesn’t want to,” Pepper reassured. “And he’s only said great things about you. I won’t tell you not to worry because, believe me, I’ve been there, but if you feel that way, remember what I said. You’ve helped him as much if not more than he’s helped you.”

“Thanks, Miss Potts,” Peter said, genuine and grateful. They stood.

“Do you need a ride?” Pepper asked.

“No thanks. See ya around.”

Tony killed the feed. It was strange hearing so much support from all sides. First Vision, now Pepper. He was going to need some time to process all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate to make it sound like everything is perfect and there are no consequences, that's totally not the case. Conflict looms, I promise, but it's definitely an internal one. Bear with me! Next chapter is gonna have some more smut though.


End file.
